Two Roads
by Simple.White.Lie
Summary: We left with our two hero's bitter at one another. Or were they? After being yanked from what she loves Sarah will find where she truly belongs. First in in Road not Taken series.
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, this is going to be my general statement for this story._

_One - I know, you know, the world knows that I don't own any of it. Jim Henson, Terry Gilliam and George Lucas do foo!  
__Two -I am planning on abducting David Bowie, or at lease, attempting to… In my head. :D  
__Three - I have yet to decide whether to do a sequel to this. There will be four EXTRA long chapters to this story (Maybe five if necessary)  
__And finally - Review if you think I'm worthy! d *_* b_

* * *

Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and her jeans were riding up, the white cami and yellow tank were uncomfortable as off center as they were and the soft golden knitted shrug was falling off her shoulders, she shifted her parcels to her hip reaching in her purse for the keys.

_Depression is an ugly word _she thought as she heard the light scratching from the other side of the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming.." Sarah said exasperated. The beast on the other side was hungry. Fumbling with her keys she finally heard the soft _Click_ and turned the doorknob.

She had moved out of her dad's place shortly after her nineteenth birthday. Now approaching twenty two, and she was really trying to be quite happy how her life faired out - She was a writer, retelling dreams and wishful thoughts to children all over the world. Two of her published novels graced the bookshelf across from the front door of her apartment. Balancing all her bags, purse, she tried to avoid tripping over a very spoilt calico cat. Loki had been her companion since she had moved out, she had wanted to bring Merlin, but a big dog and a small apartment just didn't mix. Her therapist thought she had been overcompensation when she had wanted to name the cat Fae. Appearently obsessions with books is quite common for authors.

"You're hungry aren't you." Sarah cooed to the impatiently pacing cat, "Your always hungry." she rolled her eyes as the small creature let out a rather impatient cry. Placing the bags on the kitchen table she reached into the bottom and pulled out a can of food. Opening it she placed it on the other side of the room. "That should keep you out from under my feet for about five minutes," she laughed, scratching the otherwise occupied head.

The silence was deafening, Sarah puttered about, putting food away, checking her messages, but all the while wishing for noise. Normally she'd put some music on while she was wandering around. But there were times when she craved voice. There were three voice's she could call upon, but shortly after moving out she had deemed herself too old to believe in such fairy tales. Although her belief was unnecessary after having seen it.

They still wrote to her, regularly. Providing they didn't come, she wrote back, pretending it was just another fan writing the author. She tried to tell herself that she was too old for fantasy pen pals, but she still wrote back. They had wanted to know everything about their heroine, most of all about her novels.

Her first book was a tale about a spoilt girl who wished her little brother away, and ensued upon a fantastical journey to retrieve him from the trickster fairy king. The sequel was all her own imagination-the spoilt girl returning to face the cunning King and falling in love with him-a true happy ever after as only celluloid could deliver. Her editor had demanded a happy ever after and loved what she came up with. To her amazement so had the New York Times, leaving her at the top of their list for nearly three months.

She had cried the entire time writing both novels. Almost wishing herself away the whole time. After the books had been written, the ink had dried, she had put her memories in a box and placed them in the top shelf of her closet. All except the red leather covered book that glared from the shelf, the obsession still had a hold on her. And the depression still sat heavy on her chest.

Throwing herself in her chair she flipped through TV channels, not actually watching it, and after that she grabbed some notes on a new novel and attempted to look over them, having no luck at concentrating. Eyeing the red leather cover she gave in and snagged it, opening to her favourite part, she began to read. "_I have made my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city..__"_

* * *

In a castle, sitting in on a throne watching a runner through his crystal, his thought's averted to a certain challenger that had beat him. He was deep in thought and didn't notice the goblin clearing her throat. His thought's had been racing along the paths of his more and more common need to place wished away children, he hadn't had as many wishes since … ever, and it had all started with Her.

"What, what do you want?" He barked acknowledging the clearing throat over his left shoulder, his voice acidic and his tone threatening.

"My lord. You sister is here." The she-goblin stammered. Bowing herself out his attention diverted to the tall, angular woman who stood before him.

"Brother, I wished to find you in peace and health, instead I find you angry. What befalls you to make you so wearisome?" his elder sister's light brow knitted in worry. His entire childhood they had tried to keep him protected, but he had felt like he had grown up in a crystal. The very ones that were his signature for his deep rooted magic.

"I am a busy man Amara." His eyes cast upon her, Although they were siblings, they shared few similarities. They both were tall, with the high cheekbone and a strong jaw that had been given to them by their father the King of the Underground, but that was where the resemblance ended. Her dark raven hair and aquamarine eyes were that un-like his mis-matched hazel and green eyes and silvery blond mane. She was dressed in a simple blue gown with a black cloak and the crescent moon pin at the neck, the emblem of the royal family ostentatiously on display, threatening any who crossed her.

"What is it that was so important that you had to come see me for."

"Our inheritance, dear brother." Looking to his crystal once more to see the fat little boy who had wished away his baby sister. He had little time left and was barely at the Doors of Four Heads. Grabbing the baby girl from the cold ground he stood and gestured that Amara should follow him. Cradling the infant he walked towards his study, smiling at the warmth of the child.

Amara, walking a few steps behind him saw the faint glow from his momentary happiness. Jareth had always loved children, one of the main reason's why their parent's had given him the Goblin throne as opposed to the kingdom of the water Fae that she controlled. He had been but wee bairn's of thirty earth years and she a few years older when they took their respective thrones, now, a centuries later he should have a family of his own, but he still was babysitting the children of above, giving them to those loyal to the crown and unable to bear children of their own. She neither care for nor wanted a family for she did not have the capacity to love and therefore did not want to put them through the same pain Jareth had experienced.

He was a good man that deserved to be happy. He was lucky that children assisted in providing him momentary happiness, "Ok Mara, what is it?"

"I don't want to be Queen."

"You must be confused, you already are a queen dear sister."

"No brother. I do not want the title our father is to give to me." The silence that echoed after that was deafening. The only sound heard was the scratching of the babe's clothing as she moved in the steel arms of her protector somehow seemingly understanding that crying would not be acceptable at that particular time.

"You-?" Jareth was lost for words. "Why ever not? And why now?"

"Because I have accustomed myself to the role in which I have been playing for the past century. I enjoy hearing the voice of the people, the people I understand, the people I grew up with. I enjoy being an ambassador to our dear parents. I don't want to have to baby-sit the many thrones and rulers of this world I would have to inherit. But as Father has too diligently reminded me, I will soon inherit the crown. But I don't want it."

She was the eldest and therefore would take the crown, providing that she could produce an heir before their father abdicated. For a millennia their father had ruled, he had been a harsh king but learned fairness and to be genteel. The only reason she would not be Queen is if she did something against her station, like marry beneath her.

"You have found someone? You are to be wed." He guessed and quirked a brow, cradling the child that he still held, the boy was soon to give up and he would have to find somewhere for the child. It was always the hardest part for him, giving the child away.

"Yes, brother I have found the most wonderful someone. He is kind, gentle, and witty. But he is no Prince. Your Sarah though.."

"What of her?" His voice chilling the air. It was well known to his family that he loved the girl, but unapparent to him.

"She is acceptable to rule."

"Why would I want her.." He waved, distracted in thought, until her words sunk in "- wait, what?" He questioned, him wanting a Queen? He had sworn off monogamous relations, preferring various bed mates to warm his sheets whenever needed. Women were not hard to come by, and his toxic words lured them easily.

"The fact that she is a Champion of the Labyrinth would prove her very popular amongst your people. That and her lineage traces back to that of out great-fore-fathers.." Jareth heard none of this. He had played his game, and lost, and she had destroyed him, rejecting him had been the final straw in their dance, "That was obvious in her adoration and acceptance of this strange land of yours. Her imagination still runs rampant." he didn't want her, he told himself. Something had caught him though.

"You've seen her?"

"She is the teller of her tale in the Land of Above. Haven't you wondered why you have been busier of late?" His eyes narrowed _How dare she_, but deep inside he wondered, _What did she say__…_

"Leave Mara, I will take no Queen."

"Then you shall never be King." She spit, cackling like she had just killed his favourite pet.

"So be it." He said pointedly, he masked his care more expertly. "So be it," he repeated to the empty air. Looking down at the babe, he smirked feeling the familiar nudge of reluctant defeat and in turn, his victory.

* * *

She was doing dishes and humming to the song in her head. Loki was perched on top of the fridge, her appetite satiated and content for the time.

The clinking and splashing of the water was soothing, her eyes were glazed over with thoughts of the nearing necessity of her next novel. Not for money sake, with the success of her first two novels she could live comfortably for the rest of her life without working. It was becoming a necessity because she was becoming bored with life. _Depressed_. Sarah looked out her window and thought to her session she had had that day.

"_Sarah, how is your thinking these days?_" Dr Judy Grant had asked. The first thing that caught Sarah's eye when she had first walked into the office was the last two Harry Potter novels and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She believed in fantasy and therefore believed in Sarah where all other's wanted to medicate her.

"_Still restrictive. I can__'__t write that kids book to save me. Every time I sit down to write I get side-tracked with another Goblin tale, but my editor says I had to write something equally as good and completely different or else they__'__ll think of me as a one-trick pony._" Sarah had sighed.

_"__There__'__s a problem with having one trick?_"

"_Yes, the audience gets bored when you only write the same five characters. My other two books we__'__re more young adult, this one is something I want to write for children as a bed time story._"

"_Do you always tell Toby the same bedtime story?_" Sarah had looked at her after that. She did tell Toby the same story, it was a story of princes and princesses and goblins and trolls. Now nine, he didn't get a story - unless she was watching him. Lorraine and her father still went out often but Toby could stay by himself for a couple of hours. But her parent's had decided to travel more often and further away, so Toby would pack a bag filled with his various games and such and stay in the guest room of her apartment. A room only ever slept in by him.

She loved her brother. The labyrinth hadn't changed that, only strengthen it. But it had made her wake up and try and compromise with Lorraine a little more. The woman still didn't care for her like her true mother had, but they formed a friendship of sorts, a camaraderie that came with having a common goal, raising Toby. Sarah often dropped Toby off at school and picked up. Until Lorraine or her father would come pick him up after they had finished work. Which often was late into the evening.

"_Yes, I guess I do._"

"_You may only have one trick Sarah, but it__'__s certainly a doozy._" Her eyes had twinkled over the half moon glasses.

Finishing up the few dishes hadn't taken nearly as long as she had hoped. She needed more time to think, she went to her office to write but her feet took her to her vanity where a letter had fallen out of the mirror.

_To precious Sawah_. She had laughed at that, it was a joke among her friends that they were the only ones that called her that, highly in favour of the noticeable name that Ludo called her. Sitting on the vanity she leaned back against it sighing. She was anticipating asking for help for her next novel from her friends. Pressing her forehead against the cool glass the thought of visiting flittered across her mind. The thought left quickly but the clench in her stomach remained.

Next thing she felt was a tug of her ponytail.

* * *

He saw her face from high above. She was embracing that fox guard that he had placed outside the castle among the Knights. He could have swore his heart stopped for many minutes. It was impossible that she was here, he had forbade it after she had utterly defeated him in every ring. She hurt his image as a powerful sorcerer for she had seen through his every trick, she aptly destroyed his image as a charmer for his ability to charm himself into any bed was renowned, and finally she had shattered his unbeaten record for none before her had ever navigated his maze.

She was different, older, and yet the flawless feature that had been forming when she was still a developing adolescence were faintly recognizable beneath the understated beauty. Her dark as pitch hair was tied back and her clothes were less form fitting and yet more flattering. From his vantage point he could see her without being caught.

_ This feeling_, he thought, _Rage and lust, that is all.._

His heat went from still to racing in seconds. She looked up to the castle and he stepped back into the castle. He glanced back towards the Escher room and thinking of the throne room beyond.

Vanishing into the air he found himself standing in front of his throne, having not thought of where he was going, merely allowing himself to be taken where he most wanted to be.

"And this m'lady is the Throne Room, you'd remember from your previous journey here?.. Do you wish to see it?" Unable to hear a response he listens for the telltale turning of the knob.

He watched them come in from his worn spot he had been pacing, her wide green eyes became orbs, fluttered, then closed as she fell face first to the ground.

"Jareth." She had muttered before loosing consciousness

* * *

She had never had a concussion before. Never passed out. Never been winded. But she crossed them all off the list when she felt the warm hand with elegantly long fingers at her forehead. The hard cold ground beneath her was a startling contrast to the warmth of his hands, but she had yet to open her eyes.

The finger's departed and new hands cups the back of her head and rested on her.

"Sarah." she hears the voice breathing her name like a prayer, a lover reaching out in the dark. And so she did what any responsible, grown up person would do. She kept her eyes closed as she felt herself being carried from the voice.

* * *

"It's a dream. Just a dream. It's a dream.." he listened to her mutter. The second he had seen her start to fall he had rushed to her side and caught her before she could hit the ground. Worried at his own behaviour, he vehemently denied catching her and softly laying her on the ground.

Refusing to let the sign's of worry leak into his face his stomach clenched when he watched a knight gather her very feminine body (-_ Just lust, animalistic lust is all I feel_-) and carry her off to one of the rooms.

Laying her on the bed the knight stood beside her and he had wondered she had died. Humans were so _fragile_. This one more so than any, the scowl strewn across his face.

"Jareth?" he heard faintly, he had been slowly walking towards the door, his feet attempting to drag him back to where he refused to be. Setting his face in the calm, collected mask. Refusing to let her see the weakness, pushing all anger to the surface.

"Yes?"

"I - I'm sorry. And thank you."

"Sorry? Thank you?"

"Sorry for passing out in your throne room. Thank you for carrying me here."

"I didn't carry you here, I only came to see if you had survived you insolent girl. And if so, how long you'd be requiring my.. Hospitality. For I'm sure you'd be more comfortable in the oubliette."

She stood, slightly listing back towards the bed. "I am not a girl Your _majesty_. I don't want your charity, I want to go home."

"Do you know how you arrived?" He asked, his voice icy and bitter.

"I- I don't.. I don't remember." He watch the feature's contort on her sharp features. "I think I fell through a mirror.. and then I was at the gates" Her brow knitted above her wide emerald eyes, the soft slope of her nose was not completely straight, the soft pillow lips were not excessively large but her bottom lip looked slightly larger than then the top one, she bit the lower lip and he suppressed the groan.

It had been a _very_ long time. He mused. His thoughts were dark and he let them wander through the dark for he preferred that as opposed to where they could go if he allowed himself to be weak. There had been other women, women that were attracted to his position like a moth to a light, but much like the moth's, they all got burned in the end. They wanted his heart and yet none had proven worthy like the one in the bed before him. The others had been distraction, some had been fun, some had been politics. But the sheer energy he felt when around this simple human girl was enough to fire off his every nerve. Not all of it good, and yet very little of it bad.

And he hated every bit of it. He hated her for it.

* * *

She looked up and he tried to remain blasé but he had failed in being quick enough and she saw. What he didn't know is though he fought to keep his emotions intact, she had already saw.

And had been frightened.

The brief flash hadn't been the look of the snide, cocky king her memories held, the sheer magnum of his restraint on his emotions made her want to hold him. But these thought's frightened her in that this was the Goblin King, the one whom had threatened to turn her brother into a goblin. Maybe while she was above growing up, he did too.

But she wouldn't let herself be swayed by sudden concern. She was a guest so she would act as such, but she wouldn't suddenly run into the same strong arms that held her so tenderly to waste precious minutes while she attempted to save her brother. Brother! Bother!

"Jareth, may I ask something of you?" His thin almond eyes narrowed in question.

"I know you go above frequently and I want to ask if you would check on my family to see if they notice my missing." He eyed her and sneered

"You got yourself here, you can get yourself back." and with that he spun on his heels and left. A crystal bouncing past him. His look remained detached but she could read him better than her books.

The thing with becoming an author is much like anything, you have to be able to do it better than your audience. You must be a better learner before you can teach, you must be a better follower before you can lead, and you must be a better reader before you can write.

After her first trip to the labyrinth she retired her girlish thoughts and dreams because she was no longer a girl. She became a women, and she delved into reading people's emotions. Jareth was no different than any other man she had met, and yet worlds apart in the same breathe.

He had been attempting anger so hard that he had forgotten to hide the pain in his eyes, for sheer ache his eyes was dishearten and she knew the cause hadn't been her. But she was determined to find out.

* * *

He found her in the great hall, with the same crystal she had caught that morning. The stubborn set jaw and steely eyes had disappeared and had been replaced by tears and anguish. Thankfully she had not yet noticed him.

"Toby, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Her body wracked with pain and suffering. He had wanted this from the day that she had first fainted in his Throne Room, but he was angry that it did not cause him any amount of happiness, rather he felt moved to help her.

"No," he whispered, "She is still the enemy."

* * *

She would have recognized the cry from anywhere. It was the cry of a frightened babe, crying for comfort. She walked towards the sounds hearing the rough voice of a goblin trying to please the child.

"May I?" She asked the she-gob, shrugging she was passed the child.

"Hush a by, don't you cry, go to sleep little baby, for when you wake, you'll have cake and all the pretty little horses.." She crooned to the child, swaying back and forth, once the babe heard the soft singing voice of a human female she rested her weary head against her breast.

"You have a knack for children."

"Well I have you to thank for that." she said as she continued to stroke the child's back and sway gently. She looked to his face and saw the confusion.

"This place made me grow up. A lot. After I left Lorraine and I got along a bit better when I took a more - uhm - active role in being an older sister. A better older sister." She cringed at the thought of Toby all alone with his mother, as pleasant as she could be she was a bit of a stick in the mud, moody and often temperamental about the smallest detail. Factors that made her a brilliant lawyer, but a good but absent mother.

"Do you miss him? Your brother that is." Jareth asked, curiosity of her life creeping into his mind.

"More than you can imagine. But I miss this more," She motioned to the babe. "I remember one night when he had colic, and Lorraine tried everything until she just gave up and put him in his crib. She had muttered something about working in the morning and abandon him to his pain. I took him into my room and I think I spent about five hours just holding him, singing, rocking him. That was the week after I had left here."

Jareth brows shot up, trying not to believe her story.

"You once said you were exhausted from living up to my expectations. It took a couple weeks of anger and disbelief but I realised fairly quickly that you had been right all along. I was nothing but a spoilt child. For all the anguish I cause you I apologise." She said quietly.

He was awestruck by the child- no woman, the woman before him. Her flaxen dress brought out the green of her eyes and warmed to the fair tone of her skin. Her raven hair had been braided into a simple plait that ran down to the mid of her back.

"My my my, little Sarah is all grown up."

"And damn proud too." She smiled over the head of the sleeping child. "Do you need to take her anywhere?" She asked softly. He shook his head, a flash of pain burn at his stomach as the picture of her cradling the child sunk into his mind, the sparse dark hair that was scattered across the head of the girl was almost identical to the hair that hung like a waterfall from Sarah's head. He briefly envisioned the scene slightly different the dark hair complimented by mismatched eyes and brows that had had a slight slant.

**_NO_**. He stopped himself. She wasn't anything to him. Before she could ask something else he spun on her heel and left as abruptly as he had come in.

* * *

The babe had disappeared the day before. She had been disappointed when she had gone to what could only be called the nursery and found it empty. Wandering through the castle she had asked for directions to the Gardens.

They were a thing of untamed beauty, obviously not tended to and therefore growing wild in every which direction.

She silently wished for some gardening tools, much like the ones that her and Lorraine had used when they had tamed their own backyard all those years ago. Spying a lone pair of hand shears and a pair of gardening gloves under a rose bush she was thankful she had worn her jeans that day instead of the beautiful gowns that appeared at the foot of her bed every morning.

Loosing herself in pruning, shaping and forming of one small corner of the garden she unveiled numerous wild roses, a small budding lilac bush, some golden rod, a shivering yarrow bud, purple horse mint and Queen Anne's lace, all plant that often remarked as weeds, but still were beautiful in her eyes, the tulips and lilies were regal in there own corner of the garden.

As the sun rose high in the sky from it's crouching spot on the horizon that it had been hiding when she first came out sweat beaded down her back, but she pushed forward, not even noticing her hunger, or thirst, nor anything but taming the garden all the while being tamed herself with finally extinguishing the remains of any anger she had held towards the goblin king and his wicked maze.

The labyrinth had showed her a great many things in the tender week she had spent. And more importantly, she had felt a gentle push of something unknown whispering in her dreams, telling her that cracking the king would prove greatly beneficial and give great happiness to many, included the great King himself.

"Jareth is impossible." She muttered to the leaves of some daisy that had been hidden under a gathering of crimson clover. "He's rude, cold but.." she sat back on her heels and wiped her brow on the back of the glove, "I feel like there's something there, something trying to get out." Raking up the trimmings that had been tossed behind her she scattered them along the edge of the tall hedges, her idea of -rather than killing the cuttings like her stepmother - she would spread them, a inkling that the Labyrinth would take care of the small plants till they grew tall and strong like the rest of the flowers.

For the next few weeks she would lay out her grubby gardening outfit and every morning she would find it clean, she would check the nursery if there was a child that needed a women's touch, some days she would spend hours playing with the children, and other's the quiet would chase her till she made it to the ever changing garden. After the first week of sneaking out to trim, snip and sculpt she noticed her small collection of tools growing.

The third day resulted in a small spade and a watering can, on the fifth day she found a rake leaning up against the dried up fountain the day after there had been a shovel and wheel barrow in addition. By the end of the second week the small corner that had been slowly wilting away had blossomed into a mirage in the middle of the dry earth of the rest of the Labyrinth.

She had conquered the garden and expanded it to reach to very edge of the looming hedges, she had asked a favour of some of her friends and a few of the guards and had some grass seed and water brought to her own little piece of Underground. They had all stammered and sputtered when they had seen it. Some of them hadn't even been aware that it had existed.

She had brought water to the fountain and after a few hours the cool water was clear and lilac petals dotted the surface. Her own paradise eventually got a path and a little bench.

As happy as she was that it had finally become the garden that she new it could be, she was sad that her daily task had been finished. For while she had been strengthening the garden she had forgotten her growing feelings for the King, she had forgotten that every night she was fraught with nightmares and homesickness. Her gown caressed the rich thick carpet of grass that was soft under her feet, the book that had been smuggled to her forgotten on the bench. All her tools had disappeared when the garden had been completed, but she could always manage to find what she needed when she went to prune back a bush or replant a seed in a different spot, one where it would get ample sun.

Sighing she took one last look at the beautiful dreamland and walked back to the castle, hoping to steal away to the kitchen for a piece of warm bread and a quiet corner to read.

* * *

Gardening was one of the few things he remembered of his grandmother. She had puttered about the flowers, almost as if speaking to them. They would tell her their concerns and she would give them some water.

She had loved him, he remembered that. For his grandmother was human, much like the girl that caressed the petals in his own garden. Day by day she would return and dig and snip and trim it back to something that it probably hadn't been since long before he had been born. The Labyrinth had loved the attention the girl had been given it. Especially when she did not burn the trimmings but replanted them elsewhere, the great beast had enjoyed that so much that he had been momentarily breathless with the emotions that his pet couldn't show.

The tender care she had given it had warmed him slightly so that he cast a spell of desire in which whatever she needed would appear. He had allowed her the one token freedom for that she did both him and the Labyrinth a service but had been slightly angered when he noticed half of his royal guard had taken to lollygagging about the place that held so much colour. The entire community within the castle had been enamoured by the garden.

He wished that it didn't have the same effect on him as it did the rest of his staff but almost every night after she had started he had walked out to touch the petals as his wise grandmother had, trying to gain some kind of wisdom.

The only thing he absorb was a prick from a disgruntled rose bush.

A soft giggle came from behind him and he spun on his heel, ready to blast whoever laughed to kingdom come.

It was Sarah holding the toddler that had most recently become in need of a family.

"Jareth, don't you know how to grab a flower?" Her giggle was soft and feminine, so much that he lowered his hand and allowed himself to be entranced by the women once again cradling a child on her hip as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Reaching down she caressed the flower, almost as if it were cuddling into her palm for shelter away from the cool air of the setting sun. Reaching down with one finger she plucked the flower from the ground and held it to the boy who cooed and gurgled with glee. Holding out the flower he suppressed the shiver that threatened to go down his back at her warm, soft touch.

"Next time, try the lilies, their much more understanding of a first timer." She smiled warmly. As she turned to leave his breath caught as if a speech were trapped in his throat. She turned, hitching the child up further on her wide child bearing hips, she was motherly and warm and all the things he desired - _Rejected, cast off, turned down_ - he reminded himself.

"Sarah, why did you turn me down all those years ago?" He asked soft, privately hoping she hadn't heard.

"I knew I needed to do right by Toby. I needed to be the Sister he needed. Who else was going to protect him from the dangers of the world. Lorraine was great but she gave up too easily. I also wasn't ready to say yes to you, but that didn't mean I wanted to say no." With that she departed leaving him wondering about everything he had ever said to her.


	2. Chapter 2

She noticed that the appointed nursemaids had been happier now that they had been relieved for the most part of their constant duties. Sarah often cared for the children during the day, occupying them until Jareth would show up and hold out his hands, taking them to their new home. Every time she felt the heartbreak she saw in his eyes.

Could he actually care for the children?

It had been a particularly colder day, a month and a half after she had arrived. She had long given up hope that she would return to her books, her cat and her brother. With no child to play with or coddle she drifted into silence wandering the ever growing path through the garden. Spying the wise man wandering past she smiled in utter joy, recognizing a new and yet familiar face.

"Hello!"

"Ohh ho ho looki here.. It's that girl that beat the King. Look look look!' the bird on top of his head cried.

"I remember … you." the man had said, it had looked like he had only walked a few steps but he sounded winded and tired. "You left this ring." he pinched the ring that she had bought at a garage sale when she had been thirteen. It had meant much to her and very little at the same time, she never missed it after leaving.

"I remember you too. How have the years treated you."

The old man smiled, "better than they've treated you Sarah. Why are you still sad?" She was shocked for a moment, staring at the deep etched lines on his face that wrinkled into a solemn expression.

"I am sad because I feel like I've wasted my life. The only reason's my books were good was because they were based upon this magical place, Toby is probably fine without me, kid's tough stuff, and my mom left when I was still a baby in the crib." She felt bitter while complaining about her life when she realise it was no longer her life. Her life was filled with babies and children and fancy dresses and a garden just for her.

The wise man chuckled when he saw the look dawn upon her, "You live here now, maybe the Labyrinth knew what was better for you before you did."

"But I still want to go home. Why do I still want to go home." She looked up, tears glistening in her eyes as she turned and ran to her sanctuary.

* * *

It had been a hard day in court and he was exhausted, physically and emotionally. Sentences, paroles, he ruled with an iron grip on his kingdom, but he tried his best to be fair and just. He had a whole library of philosophies and diaries of rulers, wisdom of the ages guiding him, but most recently he had found himself consulting his books less and his Labyrinth more. Wandering through the hedges he felt peaceful.

Until he watched a streak of a pearl coloured skirt flash past him. Curious he followed quietly and slowly, a hunch as to who it was and where she had been going. Rounding the corner to the garden he heard two sounds, one normal and one not. The normal sound was the soft steady sound of water and the hiccupping sound of tears.

"Stupid stupid, why did I ever even THINK my life was perfect." He froze, unsure if revelling himself would be more or less beneficial. "He doesn't love me, he doesn't even CARE for me, Toby will live a great life without me, I was fooling myself to think I had been making a difference, Dad and Lorraine will live a disgustingly mushy happy marriage and Mom will have forgotten about me long ago. Why did I ever think of going back. Why did I ever think coming here had helped. What the hell am I doing."

He was still unsure if turning the corner would be favourable when his decision was made for him with a soft, "Ouch, damn, oh crap an now it's bleeding." Making the choice he wandered in, feigning distraction when he conveniently 'bumped' into her. Grabbing her shoulders before she could stumble he was met with a deer-in-the-headlights look her eyes growing wide at who she had run into.

"I'm Sorry." They had both said that the same time. He looked down and noticed her hand covered in blood. Rolling his eyes he called for a cloth and wiped her hand, underneath her skin was pinkish and the cut still seeping dots. He held the cloth to her had until he realised that this was the closest they had been since the ballroom all those many years ago.

"I uh- Thank you. Jareth." He noticed that she never used his title, the names glittered and sparkled when spewed from the succubus of nobles that surrounded his castle. She was simply Sarah to him and he was simply Jareth to her. Staring into her eyes he felt a pain in his chest, that throbbed slightly before leaving.

"Not a problem, Sarah.." He dabbed the cut and certain it had stopped bleeding he allowed the cloth to vanish to wherever it had come from. Wiping her fresh tears he cocked his head to the side and frowned.

"Problems other than a disgruntled rose bush?"

"It was a cactus that was over excited." she explained, "And not really, no problems… for the most part." He sat down on the bench that was not three feet from where they had been standing far to close to each other, patting the spot next to him he smirked.

"Allow a wise old king to impart some advice." She took a tentative step towards, wary of this new found softness. He hoped that under the dusky moon light they could begin to heal a relationship that would prove most valuable to both involved. He knew of all his fawning and cooing admirer's, she was unlikely to stretch truths and fight for his attention. The efforts to the garden had solidified that. She was just a lost soul that had the misfortune of being lucky and smart and besting him once, for he realised moment's before had her collapse in the throne room been their first encounter he would already have her in his bed.

If she would have him. "What is the problem." He listened to her tale, from the first day she remembered to the day she leaned her head against the mirror and got sucked in. As she talked, he listened and the moon rose higher and higher in the sky, and yet they continued to talk, right through till dawn.

A yawn interrupted her last sentence and she sunk in her spot till her head was resting against the very back of the bench where his arm happened to be. Her head sinking into the crease of his elbow, her feet resting on his lap. He was half disgusted with his traitorous mind and body that allowed this woman-whom-he-had-only-recently-forgiven as she talked into the night till the sun broke through the darkness and stained the sky a pale pink, the same colour as her blush he noticed. He looked from the sky to the now quiet girl.

Slightly irritated and secretly tickled he carried her back to the small and simple room he had all but thrown her in when she had first arrived, not allowed to simply throw her into the night considering her position and the fact that he still held no power over her.

The room really didn't give any liberties when he noticed how close the simmering fire was to the foot of the bed and there being no closet in the room either. He assumed that a Goblin she had charmed into bringing her whatever outfit they deemed worthy of her each day. He felt slightly guilty in his earlier treatment of her, and promised that he would attempt to treat her better, since it had appeared she had come to stay.

* * *

It had been a eventful evening. She he had listened intently and learned about all aspects of her now dormant life as they had sat in the gardens. It had all be very good. The day had begun to look promising.

In the throne room she had sat and played with the most recent youth that had been wished away, by a young father wanting peace. The father had braved the King and his Labyrinth but had a few hours left. Jareth knew that he wouldn't make it. But he had hopes for the lad.

The regular meetings with nobles from across his lands continued as life does. _Life will not pause because you want it too_. He had learned that at quite a young age.

While he talked, his eyes drifted towards her playing with the child. A flash of her in a gown, a crown and a belly large with child raced before him before he could even tamper with the thought. He refused to allow the thoughts push him into a goal he craved so vehemently. He would not force himself upon her, it had only been the night previously he had promised himself he would attempt to like her, and it had been proving very easy with the breakfast he had invited her to share in his quarters that morning.

They had shared a stimulating conversation on the Laws of above and she had told him the story of a king who when approached by two mothers claiming one child to be there own the King Solomon had declared the child to be split in two, a half for each crying woman, to find that the real mother attempted to save the child from being sliced nipples to navel where the false mother greedily tried to take what wasn't hers. He had been delighted in some of the tales she had told and told some of his own. He had never realised how musical her voice was until that morning.

He watched as she picked up the child and wandered off to the side of the room, bouncing the babe on her hip. He imagined that she would have had much practice with the caring of her brother and all. Hearing a ruckus his eyes darted to the great doors of his court and flashed back to her handing off the child to some nursemaid. The noise grew incessant until what looked like a pauper from the fields marched his way into the room. Standing to look over the nobles and parishioners he eyed the man, "What business do you have here man?"

"My quarrel is with you Your Un-holiness. My family is starving, my wife in bed with another and my land is spoiled. You have no care for the simpleton." A large berth was given to the man, whispers echoed the hall, and eyes darted back and forth, all except for Sarah. The foolish girl moved closer to the king.

"What is it that our wise King should have done?" her voice soft and attempting charm. Her hand laid upon Jareth shoulder.. He tried to seek comfort in that. Worried at this man's cause. He did much in way of helping those pauper's that lived on the far stretches and corners of his kingdom, wondering exactly what he hadn't done more so than what he could have done.

"He is most powerful, wild temptress," The man spat at Sarah. "There is a never ending list of things that he could have done had he pulled his glorious royal head out of his royal a-"

"I will not have you insulting me In my COURT." Jareth roared. His hands fisted in ther gloves, a breath away from having the man thrown in the dungeon to rot away. The warm hand patted his arm, almost as if to say _'he's not worth it_'.

"I WILL NOT HAVE MY FAMILY FALL TO PIECES YOU SCUM." with that he reached into his coat and pulled out a hand wielding a dagger, he threw aiming for the King. It happened so fast he could do nothing but wait for it to hit him.

But He missed.

_But He missed._

He missed.

_He missed._

The man Missed

… And hit Sarah. Right through the stomach.

It all happened very quickly after that. The guards restrained the man, and Jareth flew to her. Summoning a cloth he pressed it to the wound, not daring to pull it out fearing the gush of crimson that was already staining her stomach. The belly in which not ten minutes prior he had imagined large with child.

He loved her. In that second he realised it. In the second that he stared into her panic filled eyes as she slumped into his strong arms, holding her gut that was still penetrated with the wretched knife. Jareth's fear at that point outweighed his anger. His fear outweighed any emotion that had ever crossed his mind. Except for the love that had just struck him, the burn was simmering underneath all the terror and rage.

The odd burn that had been simmering in his stomach for the past few weeks suddenly had a name and an owner. Love for Sarah.

The Healer's had come and taken over at that point. The sage in the center made a motion and the three disappeared, likely to her chambers that small room with no window. Jareth's eye's stared at his hands that were stained scarlet and the blood beginning to dry. Looking up he saw that no one had moved in the seconds that had passed, no one had dared to breath till Sarah had vanished.

"You." He pointed to the pauper who had been struck by fear the second the King's eyes connected. "Death. After you spend a week in the oubliette." Jareth left seconds after, his anger finally consuming him.

* * *

It had been hours after the attack and she still hadn't awoken. He had been alternating between sitting at her side and pacing at foot of her bed, his bed. His initial thought was that they had taken her to the quarter's he had set aside, but realised soon after that she was not there, but in his room.

There was a time in his life he would have been outraged that someone had taken over his private space so casually, but he couldn't find any anger at the sage who's hand had flown to sew her back together the crimson blood staining his bed. He wasn't angry, he was scared.

He pulled her eyes away from the floor glancing at the prone figure on the bed - his bed. He had hoped the first time she was introduced to it that it would have been under more.. Amicable circumstances.

"If only it had hit me." He murmured for the twelfth time, "The only damage would be pride. If only it had hit me."

"You'll do no good for her muttering," the voice came from behind him, Amara.

"Did I not hear you enter."

"I appeared just as you muttered those last few words. I received notice that the Goblin King's favourite had sacrificed herself for the king." his sister gasped with the haggered man she saw looking back at her.

He looked _old_. Sidhe do not age, they merely retire once they feel their job is fulfilled, she knew of some that went to above to age and eventually die like their grandmother who had been mortal at one time in her life, but she knew of none that ever looked.. _Old_. He had fine lines pinching the once supple skin around his eyes, his once full lips were thin and drawn, even his hair was lifeless, the silvery mane that normally was angelic in its halo-like appearance was flat and dead looking.

"She did not sacrifice herself, he missed." he whispered softy.

"The witness who delivered the note was quite certain that she had moved into it, assuming sacrifice." He replayed the scene in his head, looking to her face, wishing the eyes to open. _Why Sarah, why_?

"Why."

"Well.. Wouldn't you?" Amara placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, the scene still played out in his head. She _Had_ moved, inches. He hadn't been looking at her, merely the knife flying through the air. Had it hit him, his unconscious magic would have shielded him, he had been expecting that. Sarah had no magic. Sarah had no shield. And he had no power over her.

Sarah had thrown herself in front of a flying dagger to save him.

"I wish I knew love like you do Jareth. I recognize it in others, I see it all around me, but like our parents I do not love. Pallas is a good man, but I do not love him and he knows this. I enjoy his spirit and his kindness, his wit and charm often remind me of you, but I have chosen a mate that suits me and my purpose. By marrying him I will relinquish the High crown to you." She stated, her voice attempted concern but her words were laced with assurances of her own desires.

"I see." He answered, refusing to acknowledge that she had just selfishly stated that no matter what, he would be king, enforcing her demand on him. The quiet echoed around them. No more words were spoken until she had left hours later.

* * *

Silence enveloped the kingdom for days, Jareth never leaving the room. Three days had passed and she still hadn't woken. Holding her hand he kissed her fingers and turned around.

"You, Sage, will she live? Will she make it."

"All of Underground will wish it, if you ask them. My liege."

"It is a wish I would grant if it were in my powers to do so." He said to the kind man who had taken so dutifully to his role.

"I thought you were the KING of wishes." The impudent answer came from the bed. Her voice rough and weak and interrupted by a cough.

"SARAH, you stupid girl!" his hand caressing her face, his voice heartbreaking "Why did you throw yourself in front of that foul thing! I can protect myself, you idiotic child." Instantly he felt stronger than before, more alive than before, and angrier then before. She leaned into his touch and coughed, spluttered and groaned in pain, all the while her own hand rising to his face.

Her appearance was fragile like looking at glass and her words were faint for he could barely hear her, but those eyes, they held the strength that he could only identify as Sarah's courage.

"I have two very good reasons. One I am replaceable, and you are not." He attempted to interrupt but a weak finger pressed to his lips, "Second you are the most important person to me now, and I have been without you, I didn't want to lose you again." Her eyes were damp and he realised that they were both crying. He had never cried before, it was an odd sensation the warm wet liquid leaking from somewhere in the corner of his eye. Her breathing grew haggard and wheezy, and her hand fell limp against his chest, but her eyes remained open. Smiling, her fingers curled into his shirt and pulled at the material. Leaning down he pressed his lips to her weak ones.

He realised this was kissing. All those women before had erased themselves from his memory. No women in all of time could do the thing to him that she did. No one ever would make him feel like she did. His lips moved against hers, willing strength and hope that he had held onto by the thinnest of threads he withdrew ever so slightly. Pulling back further as she groaned he feared she was in pain but the pout on her face his encouragement from his ego assured him it was his lips that had warranted the groan.

"I wasn't done kissing you yet." She choked and coughed and smirked, the corner of her lips pulling up in a crooked smile. "Come back here you." She tried to pull him back but her arms were too weak. He gathered her hands and kissed each and every knuckle, laughing.

"Rest now, we can re-approach this when you are stronger."

"No." she whine, her voice laced with fatigue, her body already betraying her. "More. Now…" He laughed again and allowed her to pull him down so that he was laying beside her.

"Sleep." Contented with the position, and assured that he wasn't going anywhere, she rested her head against his chest and cuddled up to his side, sleep taking her quickly.

* * *

It had been many days and she was still recovering. He was reading a tome of philosophy and she was leaning against his shoulder drifting in and out of sleep, the wound was pink and puckered but healing. She was still deathly pale and too weak to walk farther then the lavatory. His guilt hung so heavy in the air that it was like attempting to breath from the belly of a volcano.

He was drowning in his guilt. The knife should have been for him. Damning the man that was still in the dungeons she startled awake and smiled up at him. Lifting a hand she traced the light glasses he wore while reading. Something he noticed he did a lot. He had barely left her side in the week, only to go to the wishers and returning, he monitored there progress from the same window had watched her from, the large portrait window in his room. The same room that she had been barricaded to, to recover.

Although he wouldn't admit it, he was growing accustomed to waking up on his side of the bed to her warmth and soft snuffling sounds that she made during sleep. He had never had a companion that had spent more than a night (and barely a full night at that) in his bed, waking up to her every morning was spoiling him for the day he knew she would eventually leave.

"Talk to me." She whispered. Her voice feeble, but stronger that it had been in previous days. Reaching for his glasses she set them on the table beside the bed and bookmarked the tome with the white silk bookmark. He sighed the most exasperated sigh he could accomplish, and scowling at her. The difference from before is that no longer did she cower from his various looks of anger, but grinned and smirked at him.

He was horrified to confess that he didn't scare her anymore.

"There once was a king in a magical land." He began, like most stories his had a tragic beginning. He gathered her in his arms as she spooned his side. "This king was once a prince, a spoiled boy. Spoiled for years yet never held, this boy knew naught of affection. He desired above all to be held by his mother, to have his father smile at his accomplishments, but they treated him like he was locked within a crystal, cold and distant. To be seen and admired but never touched. This prince grew, and he grew and he grew and he grew till he was considered of an age of intellect. Although still perceived as a child among his parents and elders, nothing more than a drooling babe, in the village below the castle he was consider a intelligent and strong Prince, one the people admired, but still he knew naught of Love." Her breathing was even and her body relaxed softly against him, encouraging he kept talking. Tangling his fingers in her hair he continued.

"This young prince wanted nothing more than a family. The children of the palace loved him and always found joy in his time spent with them. Children fascinated him in that they were warm and comforting and yet held him to no standard but his own. They loved because they could love, where no others could. This enchanted him to those small people." He paused thinking of all the children he had seen in his life, and yet none to call his own, the pain that was often just a dull ache could rear its mighty head and growl on occasion, like the occasion when a young women held a smiling babe on her hip, cooing at the child.

"He was desired by women because he was strong, handsome and powerful. It was well acknowledge, though not being the eldest, he would take the crown. His elder sister was too much like their parent's before him, his younger siblings much like them as well. He was the only one that had inherited Love. Passion. Goodness making him destined to be King. Of his four brothers and three sisters, he was the only one able to love the people like the great kings from long ago."

"When the Prince grew from the tender age to the hearten age of thirty earth years, his parents, the High King and Queen of all the lands bestowed upon him his own kingdom. But instead of ruling the peaceful people that he had grown to depend on, take for granted, he was given the land of the goblins, the land of slaves and ill treatment. He complained most zealously that it wasn't fair so they bestowed another gift. He was also given the Labyrinth. Could he learn to wield it he would be one of the most powerful of all the Fae in the land, for the maze was the most central, the crossroads that lead to all the corners and deep reaches of the wide land. And his new kingdom at the very heart of it all.

"Women still desired him, more so now then ever before. He had become drunk on his own power, the women flocked to him and yet none ever satisfied his hunger, he had not forgotten love for he still desired a companion who would challenge his mind, one that had wit and knowledge that rivalled his own. All the while this prince continued to age, and after a decade of relinquishing himself to the overgrown, wild beast that centered his kingdom it surrendered to him, appreciating the respect its king had given it.

"It never wanted to be controlled, it too wanted to be loved, and appreciated. To be allowed to remain wild." He had her rapt attention as the story ventured into something he had rarely - if ever - shared with anyone. "After centuries of warm nights with equally warm sheets and cold mornings of equally cold sheets he became arrogant and proud of his power. But then there came a girl.

"This girl was young and stubborn. Of all that wished away children, rarely did anyone challenge his Labyrinth. Which disappointed both him and the wild thing. But this girl was different, for she cared naught of her dreams but of her responsibilities that she had promised her stepmother, believing her to be wicked and life particularly cruel. The women cared of the girl and the boy child but didn't understand how to show it. And so that which the girl complained about so vehemently had no base and ultimately the decision to retrieve the child was more than just fear but bravery and courage on the part of the girl." his hand rested on her back, tracing the small exit wound on her back, hoping to give relief in whatever way possible.

"The king loved this girl before she stepped foot into the wild Labyrinth, for her stubbornness and her wit and her charm were ensnaring upon his senses and he had been delighted that she had taken the challenge.

"She was brave, yet still blinded by sheer youth, he had been angered by those who sought to help her, turn after turn she made it farther than anyone - mortal or immortal - had ever made it before. He did foul things to keep her from the babe, distracted her with all that he could, with every glittering trick he had and yet her courage and determination held out.

"In the end all he could do was bow in awe to this mere child who had broken through his mask to that tender Prince. The king offered himself but the child could not be what he needed. He did not understand this and was greatly angered by this, the most insulting rejection, but because she had spoken the words he no longer had any power over her and therefore he had allowed the child and the girl to leave.

"But the King of Wishes was more frustrated then ever when his one wish would not be answered, so fearing of fate, he grew angered at the child who defeated him, smothering the emotions like a pent up dam that only needed a poke to release the current of underlying … affection. Years of tedious rule followed until a women was dropped into his throne room so dramatically only the fates could have a hand in it. Although the woman and child were but the same person he refused to see the growth and wisdom she had acquired, and only chose to see the few glimmers of her tender youth. But as she became accustomed to the Labyrinth and it her, the King had no other option than to try and make amends. Especially after he had been thrown off kilter when she had apologised for being the teenager he had expected, making him a hypocrite for his statement of exhaustion due to expectations. None had ever cracked the cold shell that warm loving Prince had locked himself in. Until her." He looked into her eyes, soft with fatigue and pain and yet they glimmered of hope, wishes, and something warm and adoring. Could it be Love?

"Is there a happy ever after?" She asked softly, sleep already tugging at her consciousness.

"I hope so. Dear fates, god and whatever else can hear I certainly hope so." he mumbled to the already asleep woman in his arms.

* * *

She felt.. Full. Her heart was teaming with the heartbreaking story, he had told her everything she needed to love this man that she had not trusted but a week before. She looked down at his sleeping frame, he slept so infrequently she was proud of herself for waking before him.

Caressing the angular features of his face she noticed he looked softer and happier in his sleep, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead she asked his sleeping body, "What did this King of Wishes wish for?" her voice strong and the pain in her stomach subsiding almost to the point where is was nothing but a cramp.

"He wished for a companion that wouldn't bore him but would be willing to give him a child," Sarah jumped having thought him asleep, her heart breaking at the sight his tired expression, the worn king no longer wanted to have to wear the mask, he wanted someone to see _HIM. _And she did.

Reaching up, she cupped his face, tracing his almond shaped eyes - odd looking without façade of regal brilliance and strength, she ran a finger across his pointed brow down his sharp cheekbones under his liquid warm eyes of most men in the morning down his straight nose to his full lips, his face relaxed under her ministrations and he looked years older than she remembered and younger at the same time, the image of a king disappeared and she was left with nothing but a man, an immortal one, a majestic one, who only ever wanted to be loved, to feel love.

She could do that.

Pulling herself up, she bit down on the pain that flared when she moved wrong and tenderly pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. "Walk on, with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone. You'll never walk alone" And then she kissed him.

* * *

"Walk on, with hope in your heart. And you'll never walk alone. You'll never walk alone." The strain on his heart when she had pressed her lips to the side of his mouth had been enough but then she had done something that broke him.

She kissed him. Like he'd never been kissed before.

Their first two tentative kiss had paled in comparison to this and after his initial shock that lasted only a millisecond, he dug one hand into her thick raven hair and the other rested at her hip, sitting up to meet her he was mindful of the wound to her stomach but it seemed that she hadn't notice that there was even a wound there let alone that it hurt. What with the way she was contorting like that.

She strattled his narrow hips and had one hand in his silvery mane and the other arm tenderly wrapped around his neck. He felt the warmth both from her lips and his body, wishing the control he had built up hadn't just decided to take a vacation. The position they were in -him resting his back against the dark wood and her gyrating on his hips did nothing for the strain he felt against his pants and the warmth that came from her pressing up against him. It also didn't help that normally he was out of the bed before her and never seeing him in his particular state.

If he didn't stop this soon, he would become just as wild and crazed as the maze he had controlled. _Control damnit, control._ Breaking from the kiss both their breathing was heavy, her raspy wheeze struck guilt back to his stomach, squashing some of the desire, but not all of it. "Sarah - you need-your rest." He felt wretched for the lost look on her face, he pulled her to his shoulder and cradled her, wrapping his arms around her small frame.

She fell asleep shortly after and he laid her down, scurrying away before she awoke again. He popped to his Escher room and stumbled around on to the roof, finally allowing the beast within him out. The pain from his restraint felt like it would cause permanent damage. Leaning against the wall he let out a roar of frustration and moan in though that she was still in his bed. He stared out at the burnt orange sky, it looked like a fire had erupted and had drained down from the heavens. Groaning at the tension that hadn't yet escaped him he allowed his mind to wander to the woman, his thoughts of her long legs and skilful tongue.

* * *

She was no virgin.

There had been few men that had briefly warmed her sheets, enough for her to be able to say she no longer held that title, so when she had felt the stiffness beneath her, something in her shattered. Suspecting his Love had been wonderful, and reliving hers had been heartening, but _feeling_ the affect she had on him had been.. Encouraging.

For the longest time she had wondered if the bulge had been all show. Now she knew for sure that is wasn't… Whoa boy, _where did that thought come from_. It came from what was supposed to have just been a chaste and a warm hand assuring him he wasn't alone.

But it had turned into Girl Gone Wild: The Underground Version.

She blushed at the pebbly nipples standing out for all to see, it was cold but she knew that's not why they were perky so early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to rise when she sighed and when to had an excessively cold bath, grabbing a robe from Jareth's armoire and shutting herself in her palatial bathroom.

When she finally emerged her rosy cheeks when cherry red when she saw him sitting at his normal spot by the window at the small little table with a plate of untouched food and what was probably a full goblet in front of him. A second setting was placed across from him where she normally sat.

"I want to go to the garden's today." She had stated, hoping to break whatever electrified the room, the energy charge made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, fighting about her going farther than the throne room was always a challenge.

"Sit. Eat." He simply said. No battle in him this morning.

The tension grew as they ate and he looked over reports that had his brow merging, she tried to be silent through his first couple sighs and but the irritant groan and scowl set her off.

"What in all hell fire is your problem." she shouted.

He pinned her with a steely glare. "I'll remind you that you'd do best NOT to raise your voice at me."

"I will do what I damn well please your Excellency." She reached across and touched his hand, the contact shocking them both. "Tell me." He looked into her eyes and sighed.

"I've been needed this past week." Guilt washed over her face and dripped into her stomach. She had been distracting him. He allowed a small smile and rested a skeleton long finer under her chin, "Don't look like that, I am not saying I regret this time away. I think I needed it more than I knew."

"Your welcome for being stabbed at the most opportune moment for you." He looked at her and felt anger rising at her comedy, but the twinkle in her eye had them both laughing.

"I never thanked you."

"Oh I'm sure we would have gotten to that. Now, I took politics at one point in my life. How can I help."

* * *

_Ok that's all for now folks. Review if you like, it will hurry my writing the next chunk. I'm thinking there may be two more blocks. I realise that this seems like a shorter story (cause there is only two chapters) but i'm only 1/3 of the way there and I'm already clocking almost 12k words. I'm thinking it will in the end be closer to 40k _

_So I realise I've made a couple references to various songs and movies.. Who can catch 'em all (sorry no pokemon in this fic!)_

_Thank'ya kindly!_

_S.W.L_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey guys.. So this story hasn't gotten ANY review, which kinda knocked me down a couple pegs since I had GREAT Ideas for where this is going.. (and several chapter's already written.) But I'm going to keep pushing ahead cause this story isn't letting me go, it's stuck in my head._

_So here is the third (un-beta'd) chapter.. Hope y'all like it!_

* * *

Helped she did. He allowed her to work on the castle and organize all the staff. A tedious job that he had always despised doing, for while all of the goblins were childlike in their innocent's they were naïve in their ignorance. But the entire castle had become as enchanted with Sarah as he had. In no time flat she had his castle running better than anyone of his brother's ships on the northern sea. And she still slept in his room.

Although the only thing that happened while she continued to heal was sleep.

Occasionally they would kiss till they were blue in the face and once again would leave to control himself.

He swore that she was trying to kill him.

One day over breakfast he asked her what she had did the weeks before she had all but officially moved in to his space.

"So you care now?" She teased, her green eyes twinkling. He turned his head to look out at the Labyrinth hiding his shame.

The warmth on his arm forced him to look back. "It's ok. I understand." She sat back on her chair and her eyes grew distant, "Every morning I would find some outfit or another laid across the foot of my bed. At first I thought it was you, but then I realised you wouldn't probably notice it I walked around naked riding a big white stallion."

"Believe me, I would notice."

Blood pooled beneath her skin resulting in a flush of crimson. "Anyway. I'd sneak past the kitchen and grabbed something. By the end of my first week they had something set out for me. Then I would - I don't know, wander, be bored. It wasn't until I heard that one child crying that I found the nursery and it was pure chance that I found the gardens." Her voice trailed off and she gaze out the window, looking down at the splash of colour amid the colourless rocks and the green of the forest.

"The garden. I've been meaning to ask you."

"Where did I learn how to?" he smiled but shook his head.

"Well, now you've peaked my interest, but no, what I was going to ask was why?"

"It's something Lorraine and I did together right after I starting seeing the shrink."

"The- what?" For the first time her modern language had him at a road block.

"The psychiatrist." Recognition sparked in his eyes, and then narrowed.

"Why? Did you have to go see a doctor?" He felt that the deeper he delved the less he was going to like.

"Well, I was fine till just around my eighteenth birthday, I had by that point written my book, but I was too afraid to send it off. I had stopped talking to Ludo, Sir D and Hoggle at that point and was feeling, a little left out, and forgotten. I was too old to believe in fairy tales and have friends that were only in my head."

"The weren't in your head though."

"But I could just as easily TOLD anyone that." she had huffed. "You can't imagine what it was like after I left. You gave me wonder and possibilities and yet you snatched them all back and-" Her eyes grew soft when she noticed the tic in his neck.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't easy for you either. I know." and just like that what would have been a fight of all fights was washed away with her understanding.

He would never get her.

"So after I turned eighteen it kind of went downhill and I grew really depressed. I never thought about killing myself, I just didn't see the point in.. getting out of bed every day and going out with friends." Her eyes glazed over and it was his turn to comfort, to try and understand. Pulling her out of her chair and around the table he tugged her into his lap and began rubbing her arm, breakfast abandoned for the .

"One of the reasons I couldn't hate Lorraine anymore was that she got me gardening. At first I just sat on the porch all summer while she actually got her hands dirty. I think it was the first time I'd ever seen her dirty. Even with Toby. I warmed up after a couple weeks and began following her from plant to plant. She would speak to each one, they all had names and ages and families. I didn't understand then, but I do now." The hand that had been wrapped around her waist was pulled to her mouth and she kissed his pale knuckles. "After about three weeks, maybe a month I wanted to get in there, by the end of the summer I had my own garden and a couple of my favourite flowers in there."

"You have favourites?" He had seen how attentive she had equally been with each flower. Her gentle voice and gentler hands stroked each individual flower. They walked through the garden every night, together because he didn't want her fainting, or getting scratched, or stabbed without him being there, and so she had begun teaching him some of the finer points.

"Calla Lillies." She smiled and he tried to picture the flower with such a familiar name. "Their the white ones just beside the bench, they have kind of a - trumpet shape." the image dawned on him, but not the white fair flowers from his garden, but sunburst ones from a castle far away.

"Do they come in other colours?" He asked hesitantly, almost fearing the answer.

"Yes, yellow I think, but I'm more partial to the white ones." she said nonchalantly, snagging a piece of her toast. She nibbled away while he sat back and thought. Studying her he saw a lot of his grandmother in her, few in her actual features more in her wisdom, and strength, her warm heart and his need to try to be better in her eyes.

He had never shared a bed with someone for so long let alone someone he hadn't had any kind of relations with. They would fall asleep on their respective sides and wake up entangled together. He knew what The Underground would do to her as soon as they made love. He would rather suffer the ache of frustration then force something on her.

He had other reason's for making her stay. One of the main ones why she hadn't left had been the terror gripping instant replay of the events of her stabbing that still caused him to sit up with a sheen of perspiration and terror crushing his lungs. That morning had been no different. He had shot up in bed when the haunting nightmare once again plagued him.

_He was sitting in his throne, Sarah standing just off to his right. The yelling pauper's mouth was opening but Jareth heard no words. Instead all he saw was the dagger thrown again and again, looking up he stared into her wide scared eyes and looked down to see his hand pushing the dagger into her soft flesh._

Startled, he would sit up in a shot only to look down at the fair woman who's arm was thrown effortlessly across his waist "Jareth," she had mumbled and her fingers had curled into the soft black linen material of his sleep pants. Looking out the window to see the first breath of warmth in the fading darkness he looked back down at the shadow's chasing each other across the room.

As his heart beat began to slow he let his eyes skim across her resting form. Her dark hair had grown even longer in the few months she had been there, and her features had become sharper. While her features had been developing when she had first crossed him they were much more prominent then before. He had noticed her eyes were a more emerald green then he remembered, her body had filled out as such any man would be crazy not to desire her, her skin was more pale and creamy, but unlike the sickly pale she had been her translucent skin had become slightly luminescent in its shine. He laid back down and traced the her fine mortal features.

But she hadn't aged since she had come. The Underground had approved of her and it's magic would come in full circle, the one thing that would seal her fate would be if they were to-

A choke and splutter brought him out of his mind and to the woman no longer sitting on his lap but in her chair across from him, a goblet clenched in her hands, tears watering her eyes.

"No I'm fine, thanks for your concern." She snit sarcastically, laughing she coughed a few more times as his eyes narrowed in concern.

"Just drank it too fast. Now that I finally have you attention what are you doing about the Nobles to the west, there has been rumours that they're planning a rebellion?"

"How long was I out for?"

"About five minutes. How many thoughts crossed your mind?… I think I got just past you remembering your nightmare and then I got lost, somewhere between concern and joy." He looked at her, still staggered by her ability to see right through him. Not only him, often she would join him in his sessions with his beseeching people and give council to him during breaks.

"Too many thoughts crowed my head." He looked to the window and breathed in the morning air, "I think maybe a tour of the country would be in both of our best interest."

"Like, leave the castle?" He looked at her confused face and realised she had never seen outside of his fortress and Labyrinth, which was only at the capital of the fair lands he ruled. His mind made itself up with out any kind of dialogue back and forth.

"Yes, I'll have it set up, we will leave in three days." The pros outweighed the cons and his fears had been playing on him, warning him of certain doom should he refuse her, doom on his heart.

While taking care of her he had come to the conclusion that love should not be a burning supernova, burning too hot and too fast and exploding into many outreaches, but it should be a Greek Flame, with the ability to burn warm through wind and rain and any other kind of destruction life tried to throw at it.

He looked up at her and saw the endearing smile that was so enchanting. "That expression I know, I recognize. But I dare not say the words, for they will only jinx the clench we both feel." He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the pale fingers. _Love_, he thought, _we both feel it_.

That day had been difficult. The northern provinces were bitter when their bargains and negotiations were rejected for being outlandish. He had Sarah at his side the whole time, asking her to stay as opposed to playing with the children in the nursery that day. Her present calmed him when all he wanted to do was lash out in a tireless rage.

The capital city all recognized the power he had given her, even if she didn't. She had merely thought herself a counsellor and a friend, but when the beggar's and peasant's kissed her skirts her eyes became saucers as she looked to Jareth.

She had noticed that she was the only one who called him by his name, not even the Goblins of the capital who had been his only companions for years addressed him as "Sire" . She had asked about it once and had been waved off, but she could see beneath the mask, he hadn't trusted them. Ever since the beginning he had trusted her.

He just hadn't liked her.

Patting the back of his hand she got up and left, the room rose watching her leave, she flashed them a smile and a glare back at the throne.

"The Queen is ever beautiful and kind milord." A goblin guard bowed and chased her out. The words ignited his perfect memory to something he had said, not days before she had arrived.. _"I will take no Queen.__"_… Take no queen. A threat that had been mighty harsh at the time. But his sister had become more insistent in her letters about his chosen companion. His eyes darted to the balcony where few of his knight loitered while Sarah drank from a cool cup.

Her dark hair had been braided around like a band around her head and the back had been twisted and curled like true member of court. For her appearance at court, soft pearl and ruby combs at the side of her head and a scarlet dress that had a wide scooped neck that showed off her shoulders and sleeves that fell just below her elbow revealing dainty wrists. He waved off the crowd and walked over to her, leaning against the stone pillar in the corner he reached down to the table and popped a small grape in his mouth. "Needed some air?"

"My head's too busy," he quirked a brow as he watched her bit into a piece of melon. "too full." Somehow he understood the complexity of her thinking. There was so many things they - He - could do, but to get them all done he would need an army.

"There is one army." She said, shrewdly looking up in thought. "But how to convince them to answer the call of the King?" He was lost in her train of thought, missing it at the station.

"I'm sorry my dear but your going to have to explain that one."

"There is an army amassing in the north, while your knights keep the castle safe they are a contingent of guards, not a military unit. And frankly, I've gone up against your goblins. It was like fighting children." She snickered to herself and cleared her throat. "But there is an army, of angry, spoilt boys to the northern border, correct?" He looked at her quizzically and nodded. Logic was lost on him.

"So call to them as their king, have them start plowing fields and sowing seeds where none has been before, two birds one stone. A tired man is a good citizen and less likely to create an uprising." His brows shot to the sky as he looked at her in awe. Pulling her face to him, he kissed her, ferociously. Her hand clenched his shirt and opening her mouth to let out a soft sigh he delved deeper into her mouth.

"You. Are. Brilliant." He kissed her.

"A word of caution to this tale." She said as his mouth lessened it's grip on hers.

"You must go to them, explain your cause, you cannot send emissary's. Cowards will drop all means of rebellion, where as the stupid will stand tall and speak ill words. They would laugh at anyone but you."

"Well lucky for us we're going on a tour of the countryside tomorrow. We should be gone for a couple days."

"King Jareth having fun?.. Unheard of." She had made a comment during her convalescence that it seemed to never do anything _Fun_. And he didn't, other than playing with the children in the nursery with Sarah, and walking through the garden's with Sarah, and having breakfast every morning with Sarah.

He refused to tell her that she was his fun. "Yes well, we can't be too predictable now can we." He winked and popped another grape in his mouth. He sighed and looked back to the doors leading to the hall. "We should be getting back." Shock at his words that should had stayed in his mouth.

"So we should." His heart fluttered when she said the words after a hesitant pause. He had meant to stay _I_… *I* should be getting back. But of course he had spoke before he had thought.

"Majesty." A huffing goblin, "You are needed." Walking back into the stuffy room he noticed the small-ish lad that trembled slightly wearing the royal pale yellow and cresent moon of the High court. Jareth sat back in his throne but noticed Sarah did not join him but stood at the edge of the room, worry pinching her face.

"Addressing King Jareth, The Goblin King," The boy's voice rang clear through the room, "You have been summoned to the court of your Father the King in anticipation of the trial and gala of the Children of Underground." _No_. Not NOW.

"You are to accept and be present in one week's time. From His Royal Highness the King of the Underground." Jareth breathed out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Gala's were a pain in that he had to show up in the full monkey suit that was deemed suitable only for him and his siblings. Needlessly, they were a pain and only a means of parading around.

He nodded at the boy. "Tell my father I am not pleased. But I will attend." His eyes darted back to Sarah. He saw the question and the twinge of pain in them, or maybe it was him. So much for the leisurely trip around the country. The boy left and court continued.

* * *

He had planned to be in his chambers after hours of listening to complaining and finger pointing, he had been planning on resting for a few hours to try and calm the pounding in his head but his plans had been interrupted by the niggle of a summon.

Tending to the girl not older than twelve he brought the little boy back, she had taken her dreams and not challenged his Labyrinth. Finally back in his chambers he had dropped the child off in the hands of a nursemaid and had been aching for rest. Standing in front of the large bed he realised how quiet it was. He stood still listening for any sound, he could smell her unique scent that hung in the air. A splashing noise came from the closed door across the room. Debating on rest over talking to her he chose her and knocked only one short rap before opening the door.

Her hair was still pinned and piled up as she rested her head against the back of the large claw footed tub, leaning against the wall he coughed. Opening one eye she smiled.

"Scat you varmint." She said lazily. He laughed softly, "Give me three minutes and I'll be out. I'm just soaking in the salts Sage Goa gave me." He nodded holding his expression till he left the room, finally allowing the guilt to come back. She had supposed to soak in the salts that the Sage had given her three times a week to help with the wound that was still reddened and pained her. She maybe got to it once or twice.

Sitting on the edge of the bed he let his mind drift until her heard the door open and looked up to see her standing in a long linen shirt. His shirt. It was so long on her that it fell to mid thigh, her long pale legs looked milky smooth in the late afternoon light.

Seeing the hazel eye grow golden and the green eye get darker she wrapped the large thick robe around her.

"No no no mister. That's not the reason you interrupted my bath, you need to talk about something." Her feet betraying her as she floated across the room.

His hands circling her waist, "I have a headache and I have a rebellion I have to attend to in short order and my parent's are summoning me because they want to meet you." He looked up at her through half closed eyes.

"Let's do this in some kind of order, shall we?" She poured a glass of water, stirring in some willow bark she pushed it to his hand as she crossed the room and pulled the curtain closed extinguishing some of the light. Her heard a rustle of clothes and felt a dip in the bed behind him. A linen clad knee pressed to his hip and soft hands started to rub his neck.

"So, the rebellion in the north and your parent's. Start wherever you like." Her ministrations were doing wonders to the pounding in his head and he felt his eyes droop closed and his head involuntarily drop forward. Taking a deep breath he started. He explained all his worries, his fears and his thoughts all the while his eyelids getting heavier and heavier till he slumped forward. He had a sensation of being lowered onto a feminine scented pillow. Vanilla, roses and fresh cotton overwhelmed his senses until his focus diverted to the soft lips at his forehead, after that he fell into the darkness of sleep.

* * *

It was so rare that she ever got to watch him. Just watching. Sitting on his side of the bed with one of his Philosophies. His breathing was even and his unlined face seemed ever younger at rest. She looked around his room smiling at the slight hints that she lived there, a few pairs of slippers by the door, a pale purple robe hung on the Wardrobe door, the second flowery tea cup on the breakfast table that was unmistakably hers over his staid one.

His earthy, woodsy aura surrounded the room thought. The musky smell of cedar, sandalwood and dirt complemented rather than took away from the otherwise medieval room.

The walls were stone, much like the rest of the castle but the multiple thick rugs that lay on the floor provided something soft and warm for her to stand on when she woke up. Although. rarely did she ever wake up before him.

The large picture window he said he had stood while she fought through the labyrinth was one of her favourite parts for it looked straight into the garden below, the fresh scent of lilacs and roses ascended up to them. The bathroom, though more modern then the rest of the castle in that it had running water still had an ancient feel with it's Silver claw footed tub and porcelain vanity, the corner shower was state of the art (definitely magic) the multiple head releasing perfect water pressure. The shower was her favourite.

Her eye darted back to Jareth when he shifted and made small noises of concern. Marking her page she laid the book on her other side and shifted over closer to him. His eyes behind his eye lids were in constant motion and she could tell he was having a nightmare, but not the usual one.

A week into her healing she had mentioned going back to her own small stuff room, although his had been the best with the bathroom right there for hot water access and the actual ability to move around the room without having to do a two foot shuffle and some contortionism to get from point A to point B. It had been a small room, but it had been her room. He had gently shook his head and told her to rest, the week after when she had become more insistent he had gotten angry and told her to just accept his generous hospitality.

He had thought she hadn't saw the tender eyes every time she had paled in pain, or gasped for breath, he thought she hadn't seen the concern when she had held her gut to walk the three steps to the bathroom.

But she had. Had she ever.

She place a light hand on his forehead and gently stroked the heavy crease that relaxed under her touch. Her heart had ached for how alone he had been. Centuries by himself, with nothing but his own head for counsel.

He had put up a good show of fighting, but she had seen through it. Before she had even wanted too. "I thought it had just been a teenage crush Jareth. You were so.. Glamorous. You acted so coldly to me I thought I was just a toy that you were distracting yourself with. I realise now that me finding that book in the park was no coincidence. Something put it in my path so one day, I would here revealing my soul to you."

When their had been no reaction she had been confused. Didn't the leading man always wake up and take the leading lady into his arms after the big reveal? "Not in this story book Sarah.." She sighed as she dropped a chaste kiss on his cheek and got up. She planned to try and take some of the minor duties around the castle. The goblin's had first been astounded that she had been taking care of the squabbles and the day to day activities. Dressing quickly and quietly she thought of the first few days that she had started helping out.

She took one last lingering look at Jareth, his face illumined so that even in the diminished light of the early evening could not hide his striking features. Wandering down to the lower levels she was so strung up in her thoughts she hadn't even noticed she had arrived.

"Ledrow, is there anything I can do?" She asked the particularly plump goblin with an apron tied around his round waist. They all had known her in the kitchen for when she had been on 'House Arrest' she had often snuck into the warm inviting cathedral of a room and sat on the back table with a pilfered book and munched on whatever the goblins felt sorry enough to give her. Tuesday's were her favourite, or what she called Tuesday. That's when they made they made bread. Loaves and loaves of it. And eventually they had started making her her own loaf.

"No ma'am, we's all been happy today. But if you knew the answer that's got Mister King all tied up we'd be certainly happy if you fixed him." she laughed at his blunt answer.

"He's fine - wait, you saw him?" The kitchen staff didn't normally come up to the court rooms and dining halls, not due to being banned but because they were far to busy feeding all the mouths to fraternize with the Goblins, Fae and Humans above, prefering to have the food magically appear like some Harry Potter book. Which had been one of the main reason's why she had been so welcome, they hadn't known of the King's outrage with her.

"Yes, he had come down here this morning complaining about this and that. Nothing really we could fix, but my his temper is scary when his in one of his moods."

"Does he often do this?"

"This morning was the first time since you've got here." Sarah quirked a brow and nodded.

"He wasn't feeling great," the Goblin stared at her, "What?"

"He was sick?"

"He had a headache." Ledrow eyes became the size of dinner plates.

"He was sick?"

"I thought I told you Ledrow. It was just a headache, I get them you get them everyone does."

"I don't your highness, only physical ones in the form of lazy staff," He paused to throw a wooden spoon at a daydreaming baker. "And neither does the king. He's Fae, the's the most magical. More then the Dwarves, Trolls and even the Elves. Which is why Jareth's father is Highest King. He's the most powerful dude in everywhere."

"I'm supposed to meet him at a ball," Sarah said off-handedly

"Milady, you need to come talk to me more often!" Ledrow's warty little hand smacked his forehead _Face-palm_ Sarah thought whimsically. "Them Fae kind aren't like our King, even in his most foul of moods he's head and shoulder's nicer then them. And that sister of his is SCARY.." He shuddered. "As royalty they don't _Feel_ so that they can be.. Umm- uhh."

"Yes?"

"So they don't care about the winner and loser. Op.. Obd.. Oob.."

"Objective?"

"Yes! Objective. They don'ts care if yous a murdering scum or a Queen. They treat you the same." She thought about this, although it made sense, it was still an awful thought. Thinking back to the story Jareth had told her right after she'd been stabbed and reflecting on his behaviours it kind of made sense. If he'd never known love, or happiness or affection of course he would seek something that would give him those, and the wonderful thing about children is they don't care about your story. Like a neglected girlfriend wanting love he had sought children like a hunt, reigning over the one place he would be destined to care for children was just a natural thought.

"Ledrow, what do you know of the northern people?" The goblin kingdom had many inhabitant's, the men to the north were no different. Jareth had told her men that had been grateful and thankful to the Fae for giving them secrets to charm wood into a beautiful bench or mould a sword by asking the metal's nicely. _Mortal's have their place in the world, if only to show the Fae how to burn as bright_ Jareth had said dreamily.

"Them northern men are cold and bitter just like their weather, always wishes for more then what they need, they do's." Ledrow's voice was reflective, "Don't mind you pretty little head on them wild men. You have enough to handle with that King in the right state he is."

"If we were to offer them something, what would they want?" she asked, hoping that the wise little goblin would know, she often was overwhelmingly thankful that she had wandered across such a wise little thing.

"More of what they got. They don'ts care for pretty things like we's do, they can get that for themselves, no they want to expand. They hear dribbles of your world and want some of that." _My world, eh…_ That was information she could use. "Now Milady-"

"Sarah, how many times must I tell you."

"At least once more ma'am. Ledrow knows he's scum."

"Something that makes bread like that isn't even in the same category as scum." She said offended at the comment. The portly little goblin flashed what could only be called a smile although the toothy flash of razor sharp teeth was kind of frightening.

"Speaking of bread Ledrow must be getting back before stupid goblins ruin everything." She laughed at his dramatic flair and left out the side door heading back to a sleeping Jareth.

More of her world. She couldn't bring them iron or electricity for that would poison the whole world, but William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Dickens might be able to help.


	4. Chapter 4

Jareth awoke to a cold dark room, the pounding in his head subsided. Pent up frustration and anger and fear for his kingdom had finally effected. He had never had an uprising before, never any anger or whisper's of rebellion, he'd been ruling the Goblin Kingdom for centuries and yet never had an uprising like that. He had also never had someone he trusted telling him that he'd been too generous with them.

She had been right too. He had, in all favour of keeping peace, had just given the northern men whatever they wanted, dismissing them in favour of more worrying problems at the time. Like recovering from a broken heart.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and slowly wandered to the bathroom, splashing water on his face he smiled and looked around. Although the colour patter was neutral, this was very much her bathroom. The large luxurious tub, the shower with little nozzles that sprayed water at the perfect temperature and pressure. The dark and light blue tiled walls were dark in contrast to the vanilla accents. She had quietly asked that, if he wasn't going to let her leave, that he at least accommodate her. The broken and pained voice had gotten to him and she had woken up to a new bathroom, creating it while she slept.

He heard the door open and the quiet voice. "Jareth?" Smiling at the reflection in the mirror he swaggered out and leaned on the doorway. "Miss me?" She asked innocently, the sly smile stretching across her face.

"Sarah, I have been alone for centuries, I don't _miss_ anything." Her face fell a bit, "but I do need you." his pride screamed at him for the admission. He had found that once he learned to understand her that she was less of a annoyance and more helpful then he could ever imagine. And he did need her, everyday, he opened his arms and she allowed herself to be folded into his chest. He rested his chin on her head and just stood there. He didn't know for how long, but it was nice.

"I never thought I needed anything Sarah. You kind of burst that bubble in a snap." He felt her sigh and laugh, her arms wrapping around his thin waist.

"Jareth, I-.. Well it-.." She started and wriggled her head out to look at him. "It's nice to be needed. Glad I could help." She reached up and placed a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth.

"Oh, and I know what to do about our northern friend." She smiled deviously and motioned to the dinner that just appeared on the table. "But I need to eat first or I'll get distracted." He laughed and let her go, but he grabbed her hand, refusing to let the contact break between them.

* * *

They were in the carriage for the full day of travel. Jareth had mentioned that he could get them there instantaneously but Sarah suggested otherwise. Let them see their humbled king arrive like any other man. He fidgeted and grumbled the entire time, snapping at her.

Multiple times.

"Can this thing go any slower?"

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"And WHY am I listening to you?" He barked out at her, but she gently smiled and patted the back of his hand.

"Trust, Jareth, trust." He looked at her and gave a irritated sigh. He was nervous, she could tell that much. Bit by bit he got quieter and more on edge, rolling a crystal in his hand. Sarah tried to provide as much support as she could but ended up watching the country side that was getting more and more beautiful, a couple hours after the labyrinth disappeared over the horizon the lush green hills that looked like a Scottish magazine she saw once, the wild fields stretched as far as she could see. The smell of clover and fresh cut grass made her nose itch.

The pale blue dress almost too girly but she had adored the intricate lace details on the conservative dress, of the three dresses that had appeared in the wardrobe that morning the one she had liked the most. Smoothing the material at her lap she smiled to the window, remembering a girl who would dress up and go to the park- pretending to be the great champion of the labyrinth, a princess of such. A chill overtook her and she leaned closer to Jareth. Sighing and lying her head on his shoulder she sent a silent pray and a wish to whomever was listening that their plan would work.

They had arrived and immediately shuffled to the royal outpost, which turned out to be a beautiful red brick manor house, complete opposite of the cold, dry castle. The sun was setting as their litter was unpacked and moved into the hall. Jareth immediately veering off to the ornately dressed official's and guiding them into a room off the entry hall. For the first time she was unsure of her role.

The first few weeks in the castle she had actively avoided everyone. Then while tending to the garden she made friends with few of the guards, as well getting assistance from her old friends, then as Jareth soon warmed up to her and the shock of being injured she felt like she had become his right hand advisor. But that had been at the castle.

Assuming the role of personal assistant she began ordering the troops as to where to place everything. The goods that they had brought from the lower country were to be set up at the market to be sold, his fake luggage, her real luggage were put in the rooms up the grand staircase, two separate rooms, her dresses laid out to de-wrinkle. The various food and wine and other foodstuffs were sent to the kitchen and the ovens were already being heated.

In just over an hour the convoy had been disassembled and the troops were being fed with the loaves of bread that Ledrow had been kind enough to send. She walked through the house, making sure that all was orderly, all the while actively avoiding the fact that Jareth still hadn't come out. She came upon her room and exhaled a sigh, the room was a dark green with wood panels coming to waist height.

Letting the pins out of her hair she shook out the long, almost waist length black hair, massaging her hair-pin headache. Putting it up in a ponytail she explored the room.

It was a decent size, larger then her first room at the castle, the wide wardrobe taking up most of the north wall, a vanity graced the east wall and the wide queen bed took up the west wall, the creamy canopy seemingly floating from the ceiling. The door beside the vanity lead to the antique bathroom that only contained a crude ancient toilet, sink and a massive claw foot tub. No modern amenities here, although Jareth would probably change it if she asked. She had started to hang the dresses in the wardrobe when she heard boots in the hall.

"Sarah? Sarah?" The accented baritone sounded like it was going room to room looking for her.

She popped her head out the door, "Yes?" He was still in his dark Goblin King attire, which would be intimidating if his face hadn't been so worn and tired. She opened the door wider and he collapsed on her bed, she could feel him staring at her while she continued to put her clothes and knick knacks away.

Silence enveloped them as she puttered around the room, her hair swinging in freedom despite the elastic holding out of her face.

"They're petitioning to be separated from the kingdom, they want to create their own kingdom, one to be ruled by council rather than king." His tired voice echoed the room.

"Ok, and?" She stopped and sat at the head of the bed, her legs hanging over the side. "What else?"

"The lords are perfectly content with me but they don't want their people suffering or even think they're suffering, so their all for this-providing that they become the council."

"And the likelihood of that happening?" He peered at her and rubbed his gloved hands over his face, like he were trying to scrub the memory out.

"This is not going to work." He whined.

"This is going to work." She countered.

"They already love you, you know that right?" His voice attempted to hold humour- but it appeared to leak.

"They- What?" She had been caught off guard by the comment.

"The men who you ordered around like a drill sergeant?.. Kind, beautiful, intelligent, witty, they had numerous remarks. Your going to be popular I can tell."

"Jareth what am I?" She watched his eyes refuse to understand the comment.

"You're a beautiful kind women who is too smart for your own good."

"No Jareth, what am I to you. Don't play dumb, it's beneath you." She stood up and placed her hands on her corset-accented hip. All those years of high school drama class had paid off the first time she had been shoved into a corset in Underground, she had known what to expect.

"You are." He sat up and stared at her. His face blank, but his eyes narrowed and looked to the wall behind her, "You. You are smart, so smart that you know what the people want more than I do. You are kind, you put up with my anger and frustration like you were born a mother to a naughty child. You are witty, I have never met a women would could keep me interested for so long."

"But what am I to you?" she floated to kneel in front of him. "We've shared a bed for the past two months, and yet you've never made an advance, yet your kisses demand so much of me. You keep me at your side, your servants call me your Queen and yet you make no designs to marry anyone. They whisper to me that you've never kept the same woman around for longer than a month and yet after your attempts to rid me when I first arrived you have made no motion to what you want from me. We may have dark history, but I'm willing to look past it. Jareth?"

He had been struck by her beauty the instant she had opened the door, the pale blue dress from travelling was wrinkled, but she had taken out her hair and let it flow behind her head like the water poured out of the now active fountain in his ever blossoming gardens.

"What am I Jareth?" His breath had caught in his chest and it felt like a weight had settled there with it. She was his everything, as she listed off the occurrences that both thrill and terrified him he attempted to avoid the subject, fear for her abandonment.

In the few months that she had been there he had come to depend on her constant assurance and presence. He had been alone in his head for centuries and finally a women that both he and his Labyrinth had agreed upon. He knew that they all called her his Queen, what other definition was there. She was his. And yet he knew she wouldn't accept it. But to explain what would happen if she were to become his Queen, if they were to eternalize their relationship she would never see her family, she would never die, and she would have to steal children like he had stolen her brother. And one day, she may be forced to rule all of Underground. He couldn't force that on her purely because of his desires.

These were the thoughts that plagued him through the night, tortured him. He stared at her kneeling before him and stiffened. She feared him, the power he held over him. She loved him, she had whispered in the night the words he had wanted and feared. She allowed herself to be a servant to the crown, to him, and yet still kept her independence in the garden, with her friends, through the city.

She did as he asked and he was to be her slave. Well, he did give her that bathroom.

"Sarah. I will tell you but, not here, not now ok?" He cupped her face and smiled.

Her lips pursed and let way to a smile. "Ok, but you promise?"

"Later," he nodded. _You will be my Queen, for I will take no other._ He pulled her up and kissed her like the world was ending.

* * *

She pulled at the heavy fabric of the dark green dress. The dress had a wide scooped neck and a floral imprint on it with pale yellow lace at the cuffs, her pinned hair had a thin gold chain running through it much like the updo when she had been fifteen. Walking out she had commented as much but his eyes had been glued to the platform from the second they had left the hall.

Picking up her skirt she had held out a hand to Jareth, who was back in his regalia of black breeches and waist coat with the billowing poet shirt and the gilded owl and crescent moon that hung on the chain from his neck. He needed no crown to prove he was king. Tugging on his hand he walked up the steps, slowly, breathing deeply.

Looking out on the crowd, she smiled. Sarah always loved the stage. She had started acting in high school and quickly got picked up by a local Shakespearean company, her mother had grown excessively pleased and tried to push her celebrity status on Sarah to persuade her to follow in her footsteps, giving her tastes of being a celebrity- taking her to Red Carpets and various parties, which had cause Sarah to withdraw from it, but she never stopped loving acting, only the pressure to succeed. She was not Linda Williams daughter here, she was Sarah companion and advisor to the King.

"Gentle people," Her voice thundered to the crowd, "Kind people, your King has heard your outcries and wishes to help. But you threaten him with war and anger, you demand more like a portly child demands more supper." Titters of laughter were scattered across the masses. "You demand much of the King and make no allowances, what is it you want?"

"We want's our freedom!" A dark burly man in the middle of the crowd yelled, agreeance cheered from the mob

"And what would you have us call you were you not citizens of the Goblin Kingdom." Silence echoed through the crowd, curious and confused voices hung in the air. She was calling their bluff.

The large redhead stepped forward. "We know naught, but it matters naught. Were we free of the selfish King we would decide that."

"Were you not citizen's under the powerful king, how would you protect your lands from the Giants of the north, the Elves of the West, the Fae would have no concerns marching on your lands, your protection from the King would be null and void." The murmur of the crowd grew. "You have no magic to protect your borders from those with powers to seize and corrupt." The air grew thick with concern, for they had never seen war, nor experienced untimely death, a spell that Jareth had explained kept life thriving.

"And who would set your laws once you were free?" She continued, "Who would govern you more fairly then the King you already have. Your lords? Your peers? Would they be fair or would they seek personal gain? Do you not have land to farm, food in your bellies, warmth to lie next to your wives with? This is the King's doing" They paused and she reached and grabbed his hand. "Your King is kinder and more fair then you give him credit for." She stepped back and gave him a gentle shove.

"Wise people. Kind people. What would you have me do?" The hush fell over the crowd lasted only a second before the roar of cheer erupted. Jareth held his hand out after a moment to settle them.

"There are lands to the south of this place that are barren. They are wasted on emptiness. Expand your fields, till the soil, it is fertile and the water of the lake is fresh. All I ask is help those that already plant seeds in the soil there. Help your fellow man and life in the Goblin Kingdom will prosper once more." The cheer that exploded after that

He looked at Sarah, her Devonshire Duchess plan had worked. Calling them on their bluff had paid off, for these men were no soldiers, they were farmers who just wanted more farm land. They were children, but they were children of his land and he had to see to it that they were happy.

* * *

The ride home the next day was less tense then the ride there. She was wearing modern clothes for a change, threatening eyes warning him not to say a word about the tight jeans and linen shirt combo. He grinned when noticing it was another one of his shirts she had been wearing.

Sarah had fallen asleep shortly after they had left, claiming not to have slept well in the large bed. Although refusing to admit it, he hadn't slept at all in his quiet empty room as well. The three days they had spent there had been miserable, but he was thankful for her being there, he has been paralyzed with terror at the sight of the massed crowd but she had been fearless calling them out, coaxing them into submission. Setting down laws against any further uprising, allotting land to the farmers - for every five acres they received they must tend to one of their neighbour's in need.

Sarah had been right, a tired man would be a docile one.

He stroked her head and hummed a bit of their song, the soft sunlight warmed his skin through the window. The only cloud on his horizon was the ball in the upcoming week.

All he had to do was prepare Sarah.

* * *

Ok, I know this is a short chapter but the ball is coming up and I (As fairy godmother) have to prepare our kinda-but-not-really Queen. I've already got the meat part written and it's almost 10 pages in Word.

The Duchess of Devonshire comment is a nod. I'm a stickler for details and I take alot of my fashion, etiquette and period stuff from Victorian, French Revolutionary and Elizabethan.

All the dresses should be up on my profile (as soon as I get to it.)

Thanks for reading! And REVIEW please! Nothing gives me more inspiration then feeling all gooey from a review!


	5. Chapter 5

They had been back at the castle for three days till she started worrying about his parents. Ledrow had said they were cold but caring, she could work with that. Meeting with Sir Didymus and a few of the maids she touch up on her etiquette skills, she read up on this history of the land she was helping to improve on and she listened to the petitions more then ever.

But by the third day, she realised it was no use. She couldn't change who she was, she could only make them like the women she had already become. The dates and facts had stored themselves in her head, the rules and the itinerary lodged in her brain. The ball was in a week and she either be ready or drown.

Giving up the pacing she had been doing she threw on her jeans and went to the garden, she had been neglecting it and was concerned to what it would be. To her surprise, it hadn't been horrible for the two weeks she had ignored her creation.

She weeded and tended to the flowers, singing whatever song she could pruning back the larger bushes so even the smallest wild rose could have it's light. Her thoughts raced through details. Her dress had been created, the dressmaker had whispered and muttered the massive dark creation to life right before her eyes. Magic was something that was planted and tended too like her flowers and then picked and served with potatoes. Those who had gift's would use the limited amount they had for the calling they answered. She had shortly found out that none had more then the King, with infinite abilities and unlimited power his control of the Labyrinth had been a shock to all of the Underground for none had ever controlled the Labyrinth, only forced it to abide. He had flirted with danger and come out victorious.

Her head was lost in the soil that the squeaking of the bench and shuffling of clothes had gone unnoticed until she turned to see the silvery halo of hair blowing slightly in the cool breeze and the lazy smile of a intrigued king. Needless to say the yelp of shock amused him.

"My dear, you really must be more aware of your surroundings."

"Jareth, you should have cleared your throat or something."

"I missed you in the hall today." He had not been seeing to petitioners but had been holding court for the nobles that had been visiting.

"I didn't feel like being on display when it was so nice out, and the gardens have been feeling neglected."

"They'll understand. Winter is coming soon, it'll be time for them to bury themselves a nest till spring comes again."

"Yes it'll- Wait winter?"

He arched a thin brow and smiled "Yes winter, the season that comes after the bitter wind's of autumn, the leaves have already started to turn." She looked to the oak tree and was shocked to see yellowing leaves where there had been green not a week prior.

"Three months." She was pacing in front of the bench, Jareth stood up and caught her arm to stop her from pacing. He had been getting dizzy from her energy.

"Three Months!" She looked at him and yelled. It wasn't an angry yell, it was full of pain, heart wrenching pain.

"I beg your pardon?" His voice was concerned, laced with a hint of fear.

"I've been here for three months and I haven't even thought about my family in weeks. I'm a horrible sister, a horrible daughter. Toby will be devastated. Dad and Karen will be broken hearted. I've just up and disappeared." She was lost in her own monologue and failed to notice the anguish on Jareth's face.

"Do you wish to go home?" He asked quietly. She looked at him, her heart breaking at the pain on his face. "I will try and send you back if that's what you wish." She had never seen him more broken.

"Can I see them?" her small voice was tentative. He pulled a crystal from the air and the foggy inside became clearer.

Toby was playing in the back yard like any other eight year old, and her dad was holding Karen's hand sipping lemonade in the back yard, her father in khaki's and a polo and Karen looking like she had just spent the entire morning playing in the garden. They looked peaceful. Her heart broke at the sight of what obviously was memory loss. They didn't even know she existed.

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes and she started to fall till a pair of strong arms caught her. Pulling her into the strong linen clad chest her heart broke for the family she had abandon, the brother she would see grow up from afar.

"They - They.." She choked, the tears streaming down her face. He was kneeling on the ground, holding her as her body wracked with tears. She could never go back.

"I'm sorry Sarah. So Sorry." His hand fingered her hair, her head resting against his shoulder. He sat there in the dirt for what seemed hours till she quieted and hiccupped an apology.

"God Jareth, I'm so sorry. I've ruined your shirt."

"Your tears don't have that ability." He cupped her face and looked deep into her eyes, "I swear I didn't know." She sniffled and nodded, unable for words.

They sat there till the sun set and the wind picked up the fuzzy tendrils of her black hair. His cloak thrown over her shoulders she leaned on him and they shuffled up to the room. He sat and read, she locked herself in the bathroom and soaked in the warm water of the tub. Something had brought her to the Labyrinth and at the same time seemingly erased her families memories at the same time.

She sighed as she further thought about it till the water began to turn lukewarm, then cold, then icy. Her freezing skin wrinkly and shivering against the cold drafty room she smiled as she saw a snoring king, glasses still in place, book resting on his chest, looking like the typical pass out man on the couch. Her frozen heart thawed slightly to the fact that if she were to be stuck anywhere, she'd rather it be with him. Now at least. To think that she ever would grow to admire the man as much as she did was unheard of.

She threw on black stretch pants and one of his shirts, he always seemed happier when she wore them, and it's not like he was ever in short supply they just appeared in the morning just as every morning he appeared perfectly groomed and dressed. Removing the glasses and taking the book from his hands she traced his cheekbones, so sharp any supermodel would be murderous with envy.

He really was a beautiful man. His silky silvery blond hair haloing his pale face, the soft lavender of his eyelids, the slight upturn of his thin long brows, the straight nose, he had really been born with perfect genetics. Although he acted so human it was hard to forget the regal man wasn't human. He emitted an ethereal glow, his happiness radiated from him and infected the whole room.

"Thank you for being perfect Jareth. Thank you for being what I needed." She placed a soft kiss on his brow and tucked him in. Her heart was still broken at the loss of her family, but no longer ice cold with abandonment. He wouldn't leave her. She hoped.

Crawling in the other side she cuddled into his side and tried to take comfort in his presence. Trying to forget the events after her happy morning in the sun with the flowers. Pretending it was just like any other night, not five days before the ball, nor three day's till they left for the great capital.

Pretending didn't work, so she attempted to dream. An eternal life with Jareth. That worked. Sleep took her quickly, but not quickly enough that she didn't feel a warm muscled arm wrap around her and pull her in tight.

* * *

No carriage ride this time. He had explained that showing off wouldn't upset anyone, nor would it surprise anyone. So holding on to the handle of a very deceptively large trunk she felt a pulling sensation from her stomach, roughly around her diaphragm and opened her eyes to a palacious suite. Thick ruby carpets and heavy creamy drapes, rich cherry and oak wood tables, chairs. Her trunk was still in her hand, the heavy case making a soft _thud_ as it hit the carpet.

Jareth immediately moved into action. The trunk disappeared to parts unknown, wood appeared in fireplaces which spontaneously combusted. Sarah began wandering around, noting the picture and painting on the walls. It appeared to have once been a private room.

Or still was.

She glance to Jareth who was moving furniture and wandering room to room seemingly without pattern.

"This was your room wasn't it." She finally deduced after careful consideration.

"At one point in history. Long ago. Yes." He looked to the small portrait of a beautiful dark hair women in her hands. The picture mis-represented the ancient creature to be a healthy spry woman. "I see you've found my grandmother."

"You- Your what?" Sarah asked, looking from the picture to his face, trying to see similarities.

"My grandmother. I wish you could have met her," he cupped her face, "You would have found many answer from her, answers to questions I do not understand."

"I thought Fae were immortal."

"We are, she was mortal. Human. From above even. Although not from a time you'd be able to relate with."

"When did she-"

"When I was small. Although Underground did not see fit to grant her immortality it did give her unusually long life. She still aged, unlike the rest of us." his eyes grew sad and full of another indistinguishable emotion. Tracing Sarah's dark brow and cheeks. She too would age. But not if he had anything to say about it. "She would have liked you."

"And your parents? Will they like me?"

"Depends." He said flippantly, one look of her face told him that answer was not sufficient, "depends if they see any worth in you, anything they can use for their own gain. Sarah I must ask you, accept nothing and trust no one here. Everyone has a prerogative."

"Even you?" A smile tugged at their lips, she was easing the tension and he was grateful.

"Even me, although mine ranges a little more, of the win-win variety." His head ducked and placed gentle kisses on her neck, a spot he had found that elicits the most delicious noises. Her hands buried in his hair and she craned her neck so he could reach.

Then there was a knock at the door.

"All bleeding hell fires of Hades." He swore under his breath. She collapsed on the chaise behind her as he stormed off, stomping over to the door.

Wrenching it open he yelled at the poor page on the other side. "Whatever you want if better be worth dying for." The fae child no older then adolescence reached out a shaking hand to Jareth, a scroll with a yellow ribbon tied around it. The second the paper touch his hand the page ran off, his yellow cape flapping in the wind of his feet.

"Jareth, that was mean." He turned around and looked at her darkened eyes. He had let himself go too far. She may be stuck her but if he was going to act upon his feelings he was going to go about it the right way. The human way.

And then he would tie himself to her in every figurative and literal way possible. He wanted nothing more then to ravish her till dawn, but he couldn't. There were rules even he couldn't break.

"What's it say?" He quirked a brow and looked at his fisted hand the scroll mangled in them. He muttered a incantation under his breath and the wrinkles disappeared, the ribbon unfolded and he read.

He didn't know what he had been hoping for, but a letter from his parent's demanding his immediate presence wasn't it. Looking at the lusty eyes and slightly heaving chest he made a decision.

"It's a summon, I must go, but I should be back in time for dinner. If not it will be over there," he pointed to a small cherry table that was very similar, if not exact, to the one that sat in a similar spot in his own castle. He crossed to her in two steps, kissed her and disappeared in seconds. She wandering into the bedroom where she fell on her back to the soft cloud-like bed.

"Dear mother of the saints. That man is going to kill me." She wandered around, not wanting to be in the bedroom she ended up back on the chaise with a book. But the fire was so warm and the chaise so comfortable she soon was fighting to keep her eyes open. A sleep would do her good. _Dreaming of Jareth will keep me from jumping him_, she hoped.

* * *

The walk from the rooms did good for his fevered skin. He could have just gone straight to the office where he knew he had been summoned, but he wanted to walk. It would be the first time he'd seen his parents in years. They were not going to be happy for he was the un spoken heir. But it wasn't his fault. He was a busy man.

He let his mind wander while his feet travelled the familiar worn stone path. He remembered his days locked up in the stuffy old castle. He almost more then anything to be free. Now he realised his misjudgement. He had wanted love more then anything.

And he may have found it.

He was still tentative on her feelings for it was him who whispered in the dark of the night his feelings for a recently injured Sarah. Not her. He was unsure in how to proceed, no longer the cocky brass young king, he couldn't afford to be overconfident. Looking up he found himself staring at the large ornate teak wood door. Taking a deep breath he turned the cold handle and marched inside with all manners of a king.

"Father." he gave a stiff nod, "sister, mother."

"Jareth." his father's distant impression was familiar as a well worn pair of boots. "I hope we find you well and your country happy."

"Yes father. The Labyrinth Country is well and prosperous. I just recently settled with the men of the north a new agreement."

"With that mortal?" His voice didn't change from distance. He sounded neither bored nor intrigued.

"Yes father. She brought some wonderful ideas that assisted greatly."

"Who is this girl that my spies tell me shares your bed. Is she your Queen."

"If I have it my way she will be. I plan-"

"Your way? Your way?" his voice raised in anger, one of the few emotions he could achieve. "Are you NOT the King. A KING does not WAIT for PERMISSION."

"WELL THIS ONE DOES!." The reason for his calling had become clear. They mean to marry him off, to the first viable women possible. The sooner he is to be wed the sooner his father could abdicate the throne in favour of his second eldest. His sister's squinted eyes scrutinizing him, his mother's warm eyes teasing his heart that she cared nothing for.

Royalty couldn't feel. Except him. A genetic quirk that spanned back to known history the royalty had always made them cold and observing. A gargoyle would be more loving then his own parents.

"Father if you have nothing better to do then yell your personal feelings at me I will retire to my room and see you at the ball tomorrow night." He bowed stiffly and disappeared before anymore words could be spoken.

He found himself outside of the lavish oak door. Opening the door as quietly as he could he smiled when he saw her still resting in the same chaise he had left her in. The heavy cream dress with the soft floral rose print splayed out, the crackling fire creating a soft glow on her porcelain skin. It was the perfect picture.

* * *

She awoke a few hours later. His half moon reading glasses perched on his nose and the thick text she had been reading in his hands. She blinked slowly and smiled at him.

"I thought the Fae were indestructible. What's with the glasses." Fae without mortal grandmother's were. Of all the children of all the families, he was the only one who inherited her essence, her soul, her heart and her weaknesses.

"My eyes get tired easily but I rarely need them, for the most part I think they make me look more distinguished." It was the truth. For the most part. "Are you hungry love?" the endearment slipped before he could catch it.

"A little." Her stomach audibly growled. "Ok more then a little." He chuckled and nodded to the table where two plates were already set and steaming. Their table conversation was kept light, he didn't want to scare her nor encourage her to ask of his parents. They talked of books, of the goblins, he explained more of the game, and the Labyrinth and she talked of her childhood, her mother and various things she had seen and tended to in the castle. There conversations over the past three months had covered almost all topics, and yet they rarely found themselves without words.

When they finished she stood to leave, realising that she wasn't at the Goblin City so she couldn't go play chess with Hoggle, nor could she explore the city with Sir Didymus.

"Would you care to see the garden?" He suggested, "Maybe in half an hour, the magic of it truly isn't visible till the sun sets." She smiled and nodded. Heading to change out of the travelling gown she donned a stark white chemise dress with a bright red belt at the stomacher. She loved this dress in that is wasn't constricting at all to her already slight frame and the organza of the dress seemed to float away as if she were walking on a cloud. The dress itself reminded her of a nightgown, with slightly more ruffles and pleats.

A knock at the door signalled that it was time and the wandered out through the hall and various corridors, Jareth pointing out memories of the castle. Hidden places only he ever found, the nursery where he had spent most of his time growing up. The sun had set when they reached finally reached the outer doors.

"If I remember correctly, usually you need sun to see." She teased, her hands resting on his elbow.

"Not here." His smiled was devious but gave nothing away. Picking his way through the path the glow emanated from a distance, although he wasn't sure if she could see with her weak human eyes. When the reached the entrance of the hedge maze he efficiently made three turns and they were at the center.

"Have you always been good with mazes?" she laughed, thoroughly amused.

"Yes. Look." He pointed to the now obvious glow of the flowers. Bewitched to shine like those who tended to them.

"Oh Jareth." He was slightly dejected at the loss of contact when she went to get a closer look, whispering to the plants. Shocked when the flowers tittered back.

"They - they."

"My grandmother sang to them nearly every day for a century, that combined with the enchanted water they learned her songs and became depressed when she passed. I believe my father has someone see to them everyday," He explained, "But I've never seen them react so positively to a single person since." She smiled at him, her face glowing with glee.

"There beautiful. And they sparkle, like you." She laughed, the musical sound warmed the entire garden.

"Real men don't sparkle. It's glamour you see, the shimmer is your eyes playing tricks on you. We often seem more attractive to mortals because of the magical essence."

"Call it what you want sparkle boy." Her tongue caught in her teeth as she smiled wide. He pulled down the mask of anger, trying not to let her infectious laugh contaminate him.

"You dare call your King- .. Sparkly," the word left a foul taste in his mouth, but the effort to contain himself was too much and a slight smile pulled at his lips. "I should throw you in the bog." She saw the glint in his eye and started to run off, he caught up with her quickly and grabbed her wrists and pulled her flush against him, restraining despite her wriggling, her eyes twinkling with delight.

She had allowed herself be caught quickly. "Oh fearful great one. I am caught." Her mock terror masking her face. Ever the actress.

"I am deeply and terribly sorry, you are in no way sparkly. Please- please don't throw me in the bog. Oh- Oh!" He let the laughter break way and they both collapsed in hysterics. The flowers perked up and waved in absolute delight at the happiness glowing from both of them. They spent the next hour looking at all the flowers, she asking him names of all the plants.

The moon was starting to descend when they made it back into the room. Sarah's eyes were drooping and exhaustion set heavy into her steps. With a wave of his hand she was dressed in a linen shirt and the candy cane striped pyjama bottoms she loved so much. She collapsed on the bed and fell asleep instantly. He crawled in his own side of the bed and watched her sleep, not needing near as much sleep as she did. Her hair had grown exponentially in the past few months since she had returned to him.

The day he had first saw her in his throne room his anger had been a beast in his heart. She had refused him, broken him and waltz back as if no time at all had past, as if her presence hadn't disrupted his entire kingdom, his entire being. But loving her had come as easy the second time as it had the first, for he had never really stopped loving her.

As he laid next to her, he watched her calm breaths, her chest rising up and down methodically, his eyes drifted close sometime before dawn.

* * *

The night had arrived. Both of them had been nervous getting ready, Sarah especially after being sequestered off into the unknown bowels of the castle to be primped and preened.

Pulling at the cuff of his sleeve he took one last revolted look at the entire black outfit he had been forced into. The ceremonial suit with its gold buttons and yellow sash really did nothing for him. The straight leg pants too loose, too generic, and too boring for his taste.

How he longed for his breeches and linen shirts.

He was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for her when he heard the tell tale click of female feet wearing heels.

Looking up his chest tightened and he felt faint at the sight of her. Her black hair was teased and pinned and curled to an exponential height, with a gold feather bowing over the immense ostentatious style of court, small black diamond teardrop earrings sparkling from her ears. Her voluminous dress was soft the edges seemed to fade into the backdrop despite the harsh colour. The large skirt came to the tiny point were her waist was, the corset of the dress had a soft lace imprint that encircled the neckline. A thin gold necklace that was accented with another teardrop black diamond that pointed to her décolletage, the square neck showing off her sharp collarbones. The short sleeves were tight to her shoulder, his eyes traced down to her slender fingers covered in silk.

She finally came to the bottom and smiled coyly. "Well? What do you think?"

Reaching out he pulled her flush against him. Hugging her fiercely to him he whispered softly in her ear. "_Though were strangers to love were choosing the path between the stars_.. "

"Jareth," her voice caught in her throat.

"Thank you for doing this. You're a vision." She smiled as he cleared his throat and offered his hand like a gentleman. The silk of her hands too cold and helping him focus.

"Last chance to ditch and run." She whispered to him, her warm breath tickling the sensitive skin under his ear.

"I wish." She let out a quiet evil cackle at the king of wishes wishing to leave, while he nodded to the door men.

"Presenting, His Royal Highness The Goblin King, Prince Jareth of Underground. And the Lady Sarah of Masc, Champion of Underground." She looked at him quizzically and he merely shook his head and plastered on a neutral face. Her brow knitted as she rolled her eyes. She held his outstretch hand to steady herself, not used to the height of heel the shoes she wore, preferring the flat slip on type she had tended to when she begun attending his court. He saw her wobble and recover just as they reached the bottom of the stairs. He turned to the fair couple at the foot of the grand staircase.

Sarah watched the tension grow between parent's and son. His mother had dark chocolate hair that framed her generically attractive face, his father's was silvery like his sons, though cut short was stern in it's sharp edges. His father's crystal blue eyes and his mother had hazel, similar to the colour in Jareth's right eye, which was currently squinted in unison with the others at her. She noticed most of his facial structure came from his father, who's high cheekbone and wide brow was currently looking down his nose at them.

"Mother, Father, may I introduce the Lady Sarah."

Sarah dipped into a shallow curtsy "Your majesties." Looking up she smiled gently at them.

"We have heard much of you Champion, why is it we are only seeing you now." The queen's voice was cold and unfeeling.

"I came upon the Goblin City in a particularly unusual method my second trip here, and was injured after by a mad man at court."

His father huffed and drew himself up, "My daughter told me you jumped in front of my son taking a dagger, nearly dying yourself." His voice portrayed no gratefulness or warmth.

"I was injured, but am nearly fully recovered as of this fine evening."

"So it would seem, enjoy yourself Sarah, and do try and get our son to visit more often." Jareth groaned. "Maybe you can talk him into doing his parent's a service every now and then. For he only ignores us."

Jareth eyed his father, almost as if he was willing him not to say something "You speak as if I laze about my castle all day doing nothing but meditate and tend to goblin squabbles."

Jareth's hand clenched, a silky finger petted at his wrist and he took a few deep breaths.

"We have no idea what you do locked up in your castle for so long."

"Mother, I-"

"Nonetheless Jareth, tonight is not about politics but frivolity. We are to enjoy ourselves." Sarah spoke gently, he nodded to his parents and led her to the dance floor where a waltz was just beginning.

"They torture me to no end. If they don't kill me, my death will certainly cause them joy." She just stared up at him smiling that smirk that set him off in a tangent when she had been a younger girl. Now he knew better. "What?"

"You are more like them than you know, and yet you stand head and shoulders above them."

"What kind of answer is that?" His hand rested on her hip, the silk rustled under his finger and yet he could still feel her warmth through the material.

"You look like them, you talk like them, but where they are cold and calculating, judging what would be the best outcome, you are impulsive, and do so with your whole heart." The warmth that suddenly took him rendered him speechless.

"Wha-?" No words would form, he twirled her around in silence. "Thank you."

"Your welcome -_Sire_ - anytime." She was watching the lords and ladies staring at her. Analyzing her. She could see the judgement in there eyes. None of them approved of the mortal woman who accompanied the future High King.

"Please don't call me that." She had always called him by his name, humbling him even in his rage she had brought his pride down a few notches. "You make me want to be the kind of man that deserves to be perfect. You've always called me by my name, never stop. And don't let a few petty aristocrats vying for attention let you think otherwise." She smiled, her hand that had rested at his neck twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"Your welcome."

"I hadn't thanked you yet."

"You would have gotten there," They smiled at their secret, letting the music surround them.

They danced long into the night. Sarah got to meet a few of his other siblings the Navel Officer, the Mountain Queen and the Forest Lord. If the three of seven she had met were anything like the others.. Poor Jareth and his heart. All of the children had been given parts to rule along side the other royal families some marrying into the throne and some being given the title by their overlord of a Father. She had met a couple other queens, a few princess, and a rather annoyingly smarmy Archduke.

She had decided to throw the beautiful gloves out after shaking his hand.

The one thing she noticed was that Jareth seemed to be the only one with any heart at all. His reaction to her as a child was becoming more clear. The royalty of Underground all seemed to be cold dry senators that cared for nothing, and appeared as if the taste of the joy sat bitterly on their sharp tongues. Ledrow had warned her but she hadn't believed how objective they were. There was no heart there only mind, only the ability of great thought, not great love.

She had been stolen away by others trying to dance with the beauty whom became quickly popular and soon found herself swept across the hall by a rather charming Earl who seemed untouched by the chilly royals. While being charming and polite she still kept an eye on Jareth, worried about how his anger could get the best of him, and this place seemed to irritate him more than even the Goblins had.

She spied him across the hall and smiled. He made her heart ache at the wretched beauty of him. Of all his siblings none looked more like a King in their formal attire than him. They all wore the pale yellow sash and crescent moon emblem, but none as fitting as him. It wasn't the perfect proportions, or the warmth that emanated from him, or even the colour scheme, no it was his _Presence_.

He carried himself like a King, when he talked to others he leaned in and really listened instead of the fake staring she had watched the others do, they all looked bored with the frivolity of it all. He was excessively smart and wise and interesting, and caring above all.

She wandered over her mind mulling over their various interludes that always seemed to be interrupted. She tapped on his shoulder, his face set in a hard line at the man - another sibling maybe - and held out her hand. His shoulder's relaxed a bit but his face was still hard and neutral in expression. His temper had risen, she had searched her mind for a distraction.

"What is Masc?" He looked at her, his face flat and devoid of the previous desire that had fogged his face. She had effectively diverted his irk from one topic to another. There was an inking of her that was still scared of this man who had tried to intimidate her when she was fifteen. The god-like creature was still in there and it was times like this that reminded her so tenderly whom she was with.

"It means maze in the old tongue. You conquered my Labyrinth and in doing so became my equal. You said the words yourself, I have no power over you. To not introduce you as such would be a dishonour to yourself for neglect. It would also be a.." His eyes drifted off.

"Be a what?" His mouth distorted to a thin line. Shaking his head he stared off over her shoulder.

"What Jareth." he looked down at her insistence. She could see the anger rising up in him at her pushing. "Tell me."

"Don't push me." His eyes went flat, cold. In that split second he looked like the image in her mind of the terrifying King who had stood in the window of her parent's bedroom telling her to give up.

She would never give up. "Tell me."

"Had you not won you would be scorned in this room tonight by every man women and child here for being an impostor. A wicked girl trying to bed a King for an un-deserving place in society. Happy." He bit out, his temper getting the best of him. His eyes narrowed and stared her down, attempting intimidation. His posture was stiff and his touch became rough.

At the end of the song she curtsied and her face becoming chilly, "When you've calmed down, you can come find me." She could feel his eyes track her across the floor to the open door of the balcony.

* * *

"Stupid man, and his irritatingly stupid -"

"I hope your talking about that King of yours." Her heart nearly jumped from her chest when she saw the terrifying woman sitting on a bench.

She wore an cobalt dress that was as dark as the night sky, the corset was flat and bejewelled with small sapphires and crystals, elegant three quarter sleeves that stopped just below her elbow and puffed out, it had on a high neck collar the curled just under her smartly coiffed hair. The massive skirt shot out at the waist and looked like it had suffered a storm, the underskirt was comprised of strips of fabric that were tangled and mussed and thrown about in an almost underwater appearance, a layer of heavy silk covered it, taming the appearance.

A long slender finger with a gold ring with a large yellow jewel tapped her chin. "My dear shouldn't you be wrapped around Jareth making those disgusting lovey-dovey eyes that you do so well?" Her blue eyes were cold and had such a depth that she could only be a sibling to be able to have the same expression that he had not three minutes before.

"I needed air."

"Air, yes air to swear that he's a - what colourful term did you call him my dear?"

"Who are you?"

"Some would call me the Dark Queen, some would call me a traitor, others would call me the Water Sprite, and some would just call me Amara."

"You his sister." She stated bluntly. Hating the games that she was trying to play.

"I can see why he's attracted to you. Mortals burn so brightly for such a short period of time. I wonder what will become of him after your.. Demise." Sarah took a sharp intake of breath. Suddenly she had found it hard to breath and the air too cold in her warm lungs.

"Time enjoys my presence's, it will not hurry along for my sake." Sarah replied, quoting her own book. She narrowed her eyes and straightened her posture. '_A wicked girl trying to bed a King for an un-deserving place in society'_ the words repeated themselves in her head. She needed to prove her worthiness, best not irritate his sister.

"No no no, I recognize that look. Don't stop being interesting now. You had just peaked my curiosity." The woman - Amara - spouted. The sound of their two heavy dresses shuffled against the stone ground as they circled each other like lioness' over the last gazelle in the land.

"Sarah Williams, you may be nothing but a petty human, but I do believe that will soon change. You will love my brother. When he make you his Queen, you will inherit a gift better than you could ever image. Any bauble or trinket he could give you would pale to it. You must cede to Her, she calls to you child, cannot you not hear her? She begs you to give him the happiness he so deserves. Underground demands it of you."

Sarah stared at her through narrowed lids, the woman was taller than her but she would give no ground, she was brave - for the most part. "Why do you care, you do not love nor feel anything for him, the smallest snivelling goblin care's more for your brother than you do. Why are you interfering with his affairs now?"

"Dear stupid girl, I've been intercepting my brother's path since he came from my mother's womb. I shall not stop now to get what I ultimately want."

"Which is?"

"Freedom, with my brother on the throne I would be free to merely call my self a minor queen of the land, no pressure to be forced into the role of Heiress to It All. I want power, but that position requires so much effort it tire's me just thinking of it. With my brother on the throne, he would be my puppet and I would be allowed to finally be free."

"You all have a prerogative."

"So do you my dear, you just don't know it yet." _Nope, I want to ride your brother till he's screaming my name in six different languages, THAT'S my prerogative BITCH_. But Sarah held her tongue.

"Sister, are you grilling my companion?" A lazy voice said from the doorway. She glanced at him noting his causal lean against the wall and staring into a crystal.

"Yes brother, I had to be sure she was.. Acceptable." Amara responded, her voice dripped with acidity.

"And what are your findings."

"She will do. You could do worse, I believe Mother and Father aren't as amused by her. She's too.. Mortal. And her temper could rival yours." Sarah quirked a brow trying to recall her on the dance floor. She had been so consumed with him that she hadn't noticed the sapphire eyes follow her through the night. "They feel like she will distract you."

"It was there intended goal to-"

"Meet this woman your head over heels in love with, yes. The woman you would throw everything away for? Of course. You will be King Jareth of Underground.. Grow up and start acting like it." Her words spewed from her mouth like curses laying layer after layer of magic on his shrinking form.

"Sister if you recall, I must marry before I can become King."

"Yes, but you've bedded women of better quality then a mortal girl."

"Who the HELL do you think you are." Sarah had enough of this women, family or not, this chick was a bitch, and deserved to be treated as such.

"Child, you would do best to not speak unless spoken to." Sarah crossed her arms across her chest and quirked a brow.

"Sweetheart, I grew up in New York, your going to have to do better then that to intimidate me." a snigger to her left followed by a choking cough told her Jareth approve her standing up to the vile wench. She loomed for a few more moments, as if debating whether fighting or not would be worth it.

"You heed my words Sarah Williams. You may have my brother wrapped around your little finger, but there are many who would gladly take your place, and aren't afraid to remove you from it to do so." the air between them was electrified as they stared at each other, and then as quickly as she had appeared, she vanished in to thin air.

Sarah's shoulder's dropped the second Amara disappeared and slumped against Jareth. "So your family hates me."

"My family doesn't love darling, they don't know _how_ to like someone. They see a checklist, and being mortal doesn't really put you in their top ten." She sighed wearily and tucked herself into his arms.

"Do you care?" she mumbled against his chest.

"Not really. I do employ many mortals. And they need mortals for Fae reproduce a child of their own so rarely." She could feel his warm breath against the top of her head, lips grazing sensitive skin.

"Should I care?" His chest rumbled with soft laughter.

"Only if you want to beat a dead horse."

"Then we're in agreeance, Your parent's hate me but we don't care. Good. Great. Fantastic." His arms tightened as her breathing became more and more shallow. Guiding her over to the shadows he let her fear and pent up anxieties let loose. She felt his hand rubbing small circles on her back, she felt the vibrations of him muttering but she did not hear the words.

What seemed like hours but what had probably only been a minute or so passed. She lifted her head and stared at him, his face fuzzy through dizziness and the threatening tears in her eyes. "Would it be acceptable to leave?"

"The night is still young but since we've agreed not to care, I would say yes." A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he pulled her under his arm and guiding her through the ballroom and out the side door.

* * *

_Ok guys, there you go, and yep I did go there and leave you with a cliffy - What's up with Amara? Will Jareth's parent's ever come to like her? Will their hormones ever be satisfied?_

_Both Sarah and Amara's dress's are posted on my profile. Go check it out for updates. _

_I'm going to have to power write in that up till now I've had pre-written stuff that i've had rattling in my head. Now that the plots getting good I"m going to have to get imaginative._

_Helena - I want my Plush Jareth **now**!_

_So your just going to have to wait and see... Oh and review.. LOTS of review.. They make me write quicker. :D_


	6. Chapter 6

They both collapsed in bed after the ball, not of fatigue, at least not Jareth, but collapse in thought. Going through the motions of getting ready for bed they curled up and laid there.

Intermittently talking about the ball, Sarah talking about who she danced with and Jareth mentioning who he saw. The words held no depth nor sustenance. Sarah eventually fell asleep and Jareth peered over at her, pride simmering close to the surface at her fierceness against his sister.

Amara was intolerable and manipulative at the best of times infuriatingly stubborn and evil at her worst. She had designs on exactly how the world should be and was willing to risk everything she had to get that. She would cut off their parent's heads if that would get her what she wanted. Although the position she currently held was that of extreme power. She was her parent main general and advisor, the would be heir except for the male part. She theoretically could rule as her own Queen, but he was the popular one, he was the one that the people wanted. So despite his parent's ill will towards him, they made him heir. The one time their objectivity became useful.

He rolled on his side and ran his hand through her silky dark hair. The darkness of the night illuminating her fair skin to almost a blinding whiteness and her inky hair a heavy contrast. She wasn't the average beauty he had come across at the courts around this world of his, but she was a magnificent creature that entranced him. At the ball he had seen all eyes stare at her as if she were the only woman in the room.

And to him, she had been.

Other's had imposed upon him while she had been off dancing with other, but he had refused them all. Queens, duchess', woman of all varying sorts attached themselves to him, some previous lovers, but none could hold his eyes like she did.

Her hair was loose against the stark pillow, the locks slightly grainy from whatever wax had been used to hold the enormity of the style together. Her face still held some of the glamour of the night, he still recalled the look on her face, the warmth of her skin.

It had been a full night but he couldn't settle, the tongue lashing she had given his sister was still fresh in his mind. Amara had stumbled at the feet of the human.

That should have never happened. He fear for her now. Amara had a temper that rivalled the hurricane and would attempt to drown her in a never ending ocean of power. Not realising how powerful Sarah was. Sarah held his heart, and could conceivably become his equal, him who already equalled no other, head and shoulder's above his parents in his wisdom, compassionate nature, his yearning for unknown knowledge.

It was there that she was his equal, for her ability to learn was portrayed everyday she sat at his side and her kind eyes seeing the peasant's of the land, hearing their cries of anguish. Her heart so large that it already was filled with his land and his people.

Who else but her could make a suitable queen to people. Who else but one who already loved them and understood them. But it was here that he feared the worst, for it wouldn't be long till Underground made her decision for her, and worried his sister would coerce fate to either seal her in or ban her away forever.

* * *

While Jareth thought. Sarah dreamt. She dreamt often when she had been above. Mostly of underground, sometimes of Jareth. Since coming to below she hadn't had many dreams, only one or two of her family in the past month of sleeping in Jareth's bed.

This dream was different.

Looking down she noticed she was wearing her vest and poet's shirt, the outfit she had beaten his Labyrinth in. Not his Labyrinth, a voice whispered in her head.

_I am my own beast. And you have a decision to make Sarah Williams._ A haze appeared in front of her and she squinted to see a women she instinctually feared. The woman had hair that looked on fire, her pale body wrapped in an ethereal dress that reminded her of the soil of her garden back at the Goblin City.

"Why kind of decision? I don't want to go back, if that's what you mean."

_No silly girl, well - yes, actually. Your decision is this. If you go home you will have a broken heart for a time, but you will find another love, have many children and die a peaceful death, you will be immensely happy till the end of your days. Stay and you will have many children, many happiness, but you will go through more pain and torture and more loss then you can imagine for all of eternity._

"So basically, home to Toby, my mother, step-mother and dad, or Jareth."

_If that's how you wish to see it. But I warn you, the pain you will experience here will be tenfold to anything you would experience above, or could ever believe possible._

"I choose him.. Even if I have to suffer a thousand deaths, even if I have to slay Hades himself, I will choose him." She did not know where the words came from, it was if her mouth had been working off a script that neither her head nor her heart had been informed of.

_So be it Sarah Queen of Masc. I will bow to my Champion, and I will help you, for your choice will mend many holes in my walls. And you will Champion me once again._

"But I would never wish anything-" She shot up in bed "-Away!"

"Sarah?" Jareth's voice mumbled in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Bad dream I guess." He had been sitting in a chair across the room, finding too many distractions in the bed to think completely. Her being his primary distraction. She was shaking her head as if to rid herself of bad thoughts.

"Want to talk about it?" He asked, he wasn't normally this sensitive. I'm going soft he thought to himself. She gave him a look that was slightly incredulous, saving him from his unnecessary non-masculine acts. "I had hoped not."

"Why are you still up?" She asked him, throwing him off his guard. Why was he still up. There was a beautiful woman who wanted to be in his bed and he was halfway across the room. Because every day it's getting harder and harder.. And resisting her is getting tough too. He laughed at the crude joke, vile images and thoughts had been racing through his head the whole evening after seeing her in that gown. He looked up and found she was still staring.

"Because I had to think." He stated plainly. The choice was easy, the decision was hard. Keep her to torment him or send her away and cause excruciating pain upon himself.

"Do want to talk about it?" She asked plainly.

"Not really." His voice became distant and her face fell at its coldness, "There really isn't much to think about, just a decision to make." Her eyes warmed and became understanding.

"Do you want some help then?"

"Help thinking?" He looked flabbergasted, his thought's were private. Or he had hoped they were, for if she was privy to them he would be in a world of foul tempers.

"Lets go for a walk, and your going to pretend to listen to me talk until something I say gives you a breakthrough." She smiled and stood up quickly. "I honest do it all the time when your rambling about something." Throwing on a robe over her sleep things she held her hand out to his. He attempted to look hurt until she grabbed his hand and let him tuck it under his arm as she began to talk.

"Once upon a time there was a very young girl who wanted nothing more then to have her mother come and take her away, the girl wanted to escape more than anything, and had no taste for the family that already loved her.." He soon drifted off, letting her guide him, allowing his feet to steer them away from untold dangers that they remembered from childhood.

He pondered to a future where he would tuck her hand into his arm much like he was doing, and they would wander through his castle. He envisioned her at his side with a babe on her hip, playing with children in the nursery and maybe keeping one for their very own, a little girl that had raven hair or a little boy with emerald eyes. Children had passed through his care.

It was very difficult for Fae to have children. No one knew why. All the magic and all the power in the world couldn't fathom why, the elves of the south and the dwarves directly west of his kingdom did as well, humans never seemed to have the problem. Both below and above.

He had always knew that he would somehow be king. Amara was power hungry, but was a princess none the less, and princess's have their every whim catered for. She wanted power, but she didn't want to have to work for it. She wanted to rule but didn't want to have to sit through meetings and discussions as to what would be good for the people. She didn't care for the people, only cared for what they thought of her.

He glanced at Sarah's profile and smiled that she was still talking away at a story or something that allowed the words to litter the air, hanging there for none entered his head.

The soft light illuminated her features. She very much had the appearance of one that came from noble blood. Her straight nose was slightly upturned at the end, her eyes were neither too large or small nor too far spaced apart, her lips were full, her dark hair hung loose and wavy, it's tips reaching the middle of her back. He grimaced at the pain she would go through to become immortal. He had never seen it only heard of it, for surely the Underground would choose her to become one of them. Wouldn't it.

It would have to, for if she only lived an enriched human life, like his grandmother, he didn't think he'd be able to go on. His grandfather, The King Dowager remained, though isolated, much like Jareth himself, in the retreat in Menel just north of his kingdom in the mountains. Jareth had often thought of hiding away, but he would not abandon his kingdom, and the goblins.

He must perform the ceremony.

The logistics of the Swearing was simple. The woman must consent to be bound to him physically, emotionally and then a ceremony to seal their fate by the shaman of auld.

Easy in theory, but how to explain it to her.

"What's easy in theory."

"A swearing." He murmured. Regretting the words as they escaped his mouth. His wide stare was pained as he glanced for her reaction.

"A swearing huh?.. What's that like some voodoo ceremony."

"It's a ceremony alright."

"And this is what's been mulling through your head for the past couple hours."

"Something to that extent." His answers getting shorter, feeling his temper rise.

"Why won't you just tell me."

"Because I don't need you to fix every problem." Her face fell instantly and his insides burned in shame. It was true he didn't need her to fix his problems.

But he liked when she did.

"Why don't you trust me. I'm not going anywhere. When will you realise this."

"Who ever said that was the problem." He stormed away, they had almost made the circuit of the castle three times, never leaving the structure. He had just cleared the entryway when he heard the slamming of the door.

"You piss me off." She spat, his final nerve breaking. They were both in the sitting room and he spun around, his face feeling like it was on fire. "You really are a jerk sometimes Jareth."

"Well then marry me if that will make you happy!" He yelled, his temper finally breaking through.

"I would if you were more sincere!" Sarah yelled back "I love you - you idiot! What more do you want?" Her screech reverberated through the room and down the hall. He looked at her - stunned.

"You love me?" The words he had been hoping for the entire night floated in the air, echoing in his head.

"If you didn't know that till now you really are a dolt." She rolled her eyes and kissed him. His hands spread across her back, reaching through the thin fabric at the small of her back.

The modern clothes were crude and yet alluring, he had admitted to himself. She had been particular to them when they were alone, such as times like now, but he had never really noticed the thin straps of the cotton shirts she wore or the basic black shorts. He may not have appreciated them before but he appreciated them now, the robe had disappeared and the remains of the shorts and tiny shirt would soon follow.

Her words had sealed her fate. He pulled back and traced her face, travelling back to their room in his castle. If they were doing this tonight, it would be in their bed.

He bend forward and kissed her softly, or his intent had been softly until her hands buried in his hair and her nails scratched at his scalp.

The mass amount of skin that was accessible to his exploring hands was so tempting. Her skin was soft, he had touch her arm to get her attention before, or held her hand when she had been hurt, but never noticed how soft it was. She tasted of honey, smell of earth, vanilla and something uniquely Sarah. She pulled at his shirt and it disappeared from her fingers. His biceps rested on the back of her neck with their bodies pressed together, chest to groin. She could feel the hardness resting against her stomach and he could feel her nipples tight and sharp against his chest. Both were breathing heavy and heart's were racing.

"Sarah." His voice was raspy and deep, attempting control, "Are you sure, I- if your not."

Her hand was tangled in his hair, curling the tendrils around her fingers she pulled his head till their foreheads were flush together. "Jareth, I've never been more sure about anyone in my entire life, and if you stop now, I may just have to murder you."

"Once we do this, there will be no one else. Do you consent to bind yourself to me," He looked deep into the emerald eyes that were piercing in their depth and yet smoky filled with desire. "In everyway possible."

"Jareth, there hasn't been anyone else since I was fifteen. If words are what you need. I promise to love you everyday of forever." The words hit a note and he pulled her back to him. Forcing her lips under his will, they parted willingly and obeying his harsh demands. Her shirt disappeared along with the shorts until she was in nothing but a miniscule scrap of black lace that attempted to be panties. Lifting her up, her legs wrapped around his waist he walked her back to the bed, laying her softly on the satin sheets.

"Tonight Sarah of Masc, I make you my Queen."

* * *

Something woke her, niggling in the back of her head. Dreamily blinking away the salt of sleep from her eyes she looked to the blazing orange sky out the window. One of the first things she noticed was her apparent lack of clothing. And Jareth's. Her standard shorts and his shirt were missing and his linen pants were no where to be seen.

The event's of the night had come flashing back at her, combined with the overall feeling of satisfaction left her .. Happy.

She looked over at his face and gasped. She had always seen beauty there, it emanated from him like an silvery aura, but it wasn't there anymore. He looked, average. His pale skin mimicked hers and his hair no longer haloed but a soft kind of platinum. He looked, normal, now.

Forgetting her nakedness she wriggled closer and sat up to rest on her hip, leaning on her elbow. She softly traced the once illuminated features that had awed her so much. What was left didn't leave her in wonderment anymore, but love.

Wait. Love. Her hand stilled and her breath caught in her throat. Love. I love him. The visage is gone but the man I love is still there. How does that even make sense. Her mind buzzed with activity.

"Sarah." he moaned and she smiled feeling all the parts that he had worshipped re-awaken, the cobwebs that had formed had been brushed away by his expert hands. A soft finger mapped his sharp features that were now muted to her eyes, everything was subtle.

Her finger travelled down his brow to his thin lips, warmth flooding her remembering where those lips had been, what they had been capable of. The back of her hand seemed to move to his neck on its own tracing the mark on his neck that would match her teeth.

The muscles in his jaw clenched as she outlined the well defined muscles of his chest, though he wasn't bulky, he was solid, less football more swimmer type.. Every muscle had a purpose. Her hand palmed the pale pink nipples on his chest and she heard a quick intake of breath.

"Are you purposely toying with me?" His voice murmured, surprisingly awake.

"Do you want me to stop." His eyes flew open, and for a moment she was grateful that they hadn't changed, although she had been unaware of the worry.

"You look different. Less-"

"Glamour." He said gently, his hand tangling in her hair, his other arm pulling her closer, her breast pressed against his chest. "The Underground has claimed you, and now as a citizen you will see me for what I really am." His voice was laced with worry.

"You never answered my other question."

He quirked a brow and smiled "What one?"

Her hand continued to travel and outline his chest, ribs, hips. "Do you want me to stop." His eyes grew wide and a smile stretched across his face. She had never seen him more content, more pleased, healthier and happier. She realised she felt the same.

"God no, never stop Sarah." The hand that had been tangled in her hair had pulled her head down and in the soft warm light of the rising sun, they made sure that the promise they had made the night before was truly sealed.

* * *

"M'lady has never looked more beautiful." The ladies tittered her hair braided into some horrible stiff style that was heavy on her neck, her feet aching in the heeled slippers, her ribs hurting from the tightness of the corset of the beautiful gown.

"I've seen a'many a'swearings in my day and yet none of the maids looked more exquisite then you here miss." The heavy pale blue grey fabric up over her shoulders she looked at herself in the mirror and traced the fine embroidery and pearls on the corset.

After they had rolled out of bed Jareth guiltily admitted what had happened. That they had basically just been married. When he had asked for her consent to something or other (that she really didn't remember) she had pretty much just said "I Do."

Which hadn't really bothered her.

After wading through the confusion of when the had gone back to the Goblin City, and what she would have to put up with as a Queen she basically decided that she was ok with it all. Which had flabbergasted Jareth into silence for a whole ten minutes. He had just sat there in shock or something.

She fondly recalled the look on his parent's faces when he had admitted that they had begun the binding process of their swearing. It was then that she had seen a glimmer of happiness on their faces. Something informed her that they did care for Jareth, in the only way that they knew how. They accepted her into the family as warmly as they could - with explanations, expectations and an invitation to tea.

That's when she got flabbergasted.

Her new mother-in-law dove into planning the final step in the process, the formal swearing and reception of a new Queen. Sarah allowing her to take the lead, enjoying the amiable mood his sister had found once she realised that Jareth had claimed a Queen.

The process had been arduous but the day had arrived and the heavy silk was one of her own design. Bits pulled from movies, plays and a little Sarah flair. She hoped the mirror wasn't lying because the dress looked perfect and her dark hair was pinned back out of her face but allowed to flow down her back, the lace veil that went over her head would be replaced with a crown. She shivered at the thought. "Miss, there about ready for you out there."

"Thanks Aniela." Taking one last glance she took a deep breath. It's Jareth out there and you love him.

The ceremony had proceed smoothly, the high priest who looked as ancient as time had spoken the old world to seal them and tossed geraniums and stephanotis for marriage and four leaf clover's for luck. Then Jareth had taken the heavy gold crown with black and yellow jewels and placed it on her head, crowing her his queen.

The party had begun shortly after that. But only after the goblins could throw rice at them.

Jareth was ecstatic. He finally had everything he had wanted all those many years ago watching her act in the park. They had danced together and greeted guest, Sarah playing the blushing bride well.

He watched her be swept away by one of the older dukes of court, smiling at the wily old man. While Sarah was otherwise occupied he walked to the edge of the dance floor, his eyes focused on a wild thing swaying to the music, fearless and power haloing her.

"And what, may I ask, are you doing here?" The woman was the only one that could possibly usurp his new Queen in beauty. Her waist length fiery red mane was loose and her green frock was flowing and wrapped her in a brilliant shade of emerald that he thought oddly matched Sarah's eyes.

"I am here honouring my new Queen. I choose well for you, did I not?"

"You had nothing to do with this!" He snapped. "Nothing."

"My dear King, you silly silly man. Who do you think ensured she got the book in the park? Who helped her be the only one to ever defeat you." Her eyes twinkled, rich with time. "Who brought her here to you."

"It was YOU." His eyes became saucers in fear and awe.

"Yes you ridiculous thing. I may be stuck as endless stone walls, but I still know a thing or two." She grabbed his hand and pulled him on the dance floor.

"My Queen will have a thing or two to say if she sees us here," He was bitter but could not refuse the woman who embodied his kingdom. She was like a child to him, he cared for her, nurtured her and allowed her to grow. His love for her was only overshadowed by his love for Sarah.

"She knows me. I've been whispering to her dreams since she was a child in the crib. What's twenty some years to one who has lived as long as me." The waltz was slow and irritatingly dull, not something lively that would inhibit chatter. "You haven't walked through my walls in many years Jareth, I was starting to feel neglected, and then she leaned up against that mirror and wished for you, and for me. Who was I to dissuade her."

"You took her family away from her." His voice was that of a father punishing a child for breaking curfew. "You erased there memories before you gave her a choice. You know the law. All mortals must be given the choice."

"She had already made the choice. I just hadn't heard it." The Labyrinth said coyly. "And with that tone I almost expect you to scream that Life Isn't Fair." She giggled.

"Life isn't fair, but sometimes it is kind." He stated, a learned fact from his centuries of loneliness now coloured with love.

"You know My King, you are smarter then you think. Maybe she'll help you into realising it." His brow pinched as the creature that he had been dancing with faded into nothing, but her laughter hung in the air. His eyes focused on the air in front of him, half expecting her to return, only to see Sarah smile and slip into his arms.

"Did she have much to say?"

"You knew?" Sarah nodded secretively.

"She's been informing me of answers to questions I have not asked for as long as I can remember. Even the form she takes is from my dreams. How could I not recognize the Labyrinth." He smiled sweetly at her, cupping her face, "She's my number one supporter in this marriage, although your sister seems quite pleased. She actually smiled."

"She's been known to do that once a millennia."

"Do they suddenly approve of me?" Her voice was meek and he was stunned that it was in her repertoire.

"They approve as much as they can. Sarah, my family only see's profit and loss, the fact that I now have a wife makes them as happy as they can be." There eyes both shot to his parents sitting stiffly on the makeshift high thrones off to the side. Neither of them were smiling, but they both looked calm and serene, or maybe that was just her happiness clouding her vision.

"Remember our pact. We don't care, right." She whispered in his ear and he responded by pecking her neck with soft kisses.

"Right."

The sun was beginning to set over the kingdom and they were eager to slip away. But Kings and Queens didn't have the liberty to disappear into the night. A chance came upon them and they slipped into the Labyrinth, knowing the walls would protect them, they walked for a bit in silence till Jareth held out his hand and smiled.

"Well Wife, should we travel to the marriage bed?"

"Dear husband, I thought you'd never ask." She grabbed his hand allowed him to pull her in and he tucked her under his chin, hugging her fiercely to him. Their love was a physical beast, that roared in his chest. He had once wished for a love that burned like Greek Fire, and he had found it. She would love him through pain, and suffering and anger and tempers. She had faced his fears and laughed at the dangers.

She was born to love him, he had decided, everything about her was designed for him, from her politics to her gardens and he had been created to keep her happy for as long as they both lived. And there in the walls of the beast that had brought them together, they both thanked the entity that drew them to each other.

Getting lost in a maze isn't always about finding the way out, but finding the way thought.

* * *

Oh Hey guys!

So here it is, the end to the long and short of it.. I realise the story is only 6 chapters but I had said it would be short (I like things to move quickly.)

I kind of have a sequel or a continuation in the works but at this point I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it. So review if you want me to continue.

Helena Alexandra- They can't love, but they can appreciate. And as long as their royalty they can not feel. Notice that Jareth's grandfather is still alive?.. (Mwuah ahah- I have him in the sequel but only if your good!)

Akirasan215- I despise his parents too, but so do most daughter-in-laws, I kinda just went to the extreme, Sarah has a habit of thinking people don't like her.

ShadyAngel - I have the same problem- not repeating lines. And I know I over describe, I'm horrible with grammar and I like it when my readers know EXACTLY what 'it' looks like, from an expression, to a hairstyle to a dress, there is a reason for everything. And I only had to take one english course on how to write memo's, Nurses really don't NEED to know the scope of punctuation.

Hrr - A well thank ya!

And so Just to be COMPLETELY ruthless, I'm going to add a tibit from the sequel in a shameless attempt to get review (cause they make me happy!)

* * *

_"Do you why the city at the heart of the Labyrinth is the Goblin City?"_

_"Well my dear, it's not like I'm going anywhere." Her stomach was grossly concaved, the hardness of it confirmed of what lay beneath, or more so, what wriggled and danced._

_"The city was once the great capital of the Fae. Back when man was first learning to walk the labyrinth was created by a dark queen, not evil, but powerful in her ways, she was kind but harsh on the magical people she loved. They soon grew angry of her ways, much like a teenager who rebelled against a hard but loving mother." He eyed her pink cheeks, both reminded of her once abhorrence to her stepmother, Sarah secretly wishing for her warm comforting presence to help her with the morning sickness. Jareth was great but was often busy still trying to run a country while having a pregnant wife was difficult._

_ "Anyway. The angry soon grew in numbers and they pooled their magic and enslaved the queen, sending her to the heart of the labyrinth, but not before she could cast one final spell that reduced them all to the childlike beings she thought of them as. They had been her children, and naughty children had to be punished, but she still loved them, so the goblins remained slightly magical in the new state they had, and she cared for them from the center of the maze, helping the soil be fertile so they could grow food for their tables, helping the animals be heathly, and when a new king came to rule she attempted to connect with them, to help them understand what her country needed. Goblin kings scorned the woman who had been taken from her throne and the Queen had become angry, refusing to cooperate with the kings, until a scare young prince reached out and asked for help." He smiled at the love the echoed in her emerald eyes. _

_ "And what did the Labyrinth say to this scared prince?" Her hand fluttered over her bloated womb. Smiling at the memory of the fiery woman he had danced with at their swearing ceremony. _

_"She asked him to fear her, love her and do as she said and she would serve him for all of time."_

_"You stole those words from her? Jerk." Her smiling face and laughter told him otherwise._

_"She told me just before you arrived that you would be special, that you would anger me beyond all other's before and all other's after. No woman has ever frustrated me so, but no other would I care for more." Jareth smiled and traced her cheek with the back of his fingers. "And she was right," _

**TBC.. Maybe?**


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